Netters Post Second 6-1 Win of the Weekend

PROVO, Utah – With its second 6-1 conference win of the weekend, the No. 45 BYU men’s tennis team topped the Portland Pilots Saturday at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

“We had a great showing in doubles and played with real intensity today,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We want to do that, come out and sweep doubles. We came out strong in singles too and executed our play. This was the first match the team has played outside at home and the guys adjusted really well to it.”

The Cougars (13-7, 3-2 WCC) recorded their second doubles sweep of the weekend. All three BYU doubles teams took a 5-2 lead over their respective opponents. Playing at the No. 3 doubles position, freshman Keaton Cullimore and senior Michael Eraso were the first to close out their match, recording an 8-3 win over Daniel Coelho and Justin Guay. Senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka topped their Court 1 opponents 8-4 to secure the doubles point for the Cougars. Freshman Francis Sargeant and senior Spencer Smith completed the sweep, taking a 7-5 win on Court 2.

The Cougars carried their momentum into singles, winning five of the six first sets over the Pilots (11-5, 1-2 WCC). Smith set off a chain reaction after posting the first BYU singles win, 6-4, 6-1 on Court 1. Kawka quickly followed with his own win (6-4, 6-1) on Court 2 to put the Cougars up 3-0.

Cullimore secured BYU’s third conference win minutes later, coming away with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alex Ferrero on Court 4. Eraso pushed the match score to 5-0 after holding his opponent to winning only three games in his straight set win on Court 5 (6-1, 6-2).

The final two matches came down to tiebreakers. On Court 3, Sargeant held on to take a 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 decision while Fillmore fell 2-6, 6-4, 13-11 at the No. 6 singles position to give Portland its lone point of the day.

“It would have been nice to see 7-0 but Travis Fillmore put up a good battle,” Pearce said. “It’ll be good to have a little break for the guys to finish finals before we finish the regular season at home,” Pearce said.

The Cougars take a week break before hosting Loyola Marymount and perennial powerhouse Pepperdine April 20 and April 21 in conference showdowns at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

Portland – 1
BYU – 6
 

Singles competition:
1. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Stefan Micov (UP), 6-4, 6-1
2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Geoff Hernandez (UP), 6-4, 6-1
3. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Michael Hu Kwo (UP), 2-6, 6-4, 10-7
4. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def. Alex Ferrero (UP), 6-2, 6-3
5. Michael Eraso (BYU) def. Justin Guay (UP), 6-1, 6-2
6. Daniel Coelho (UP) def. Travis Fillmore (BYU), 2-6, 6-4, 13-11
Order of finish: 1,2,4,5,3,6

Doubles competition:
1. G. Batrakov/P. Kawka (BYU) def. A. Ferrero/M. Hu Kwo (UP), 8-4
2. S. Smith/F. Sargeant (BYU) def. S. Micov/G. Hernandez (UP), 7-5
3. K. Cullimore/M. Eraso (BYU) def. D. Coelho/J. Guay (UP), 8-3
Order of finish: 3,1,2