BYU duo advanced to quarterfinals

LOS ANGELES –BYU tennis teammates Travis Fillmore and Francis Sargeant advanced to the quarterfinals in the doubles round after winning their first two matches at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships on UCLA’s campus.

“I was really pleased with their performance and their intensity,” head coach Brad Pearce said. “I look forward to their match tomorrow, it’s a great opportunity for them.”

The duo first defeated Andrew Carlisle and Ciaran Fitzgerald from San Diego, 8-4, in the qualifying round. Next, they upset the No. 2 seed team of Damien Gryzelko and Mousheg Hovhannisyan from Pepperdine, 8-1. 

Fillmore and Sargeant will play in the quarterfinals Saturday at 3 p.m. PST.

Sophomore Keaton Cullimore and freshman John Pearce started doubles play in the main draw but lost to San Diego’s Romain Kalaydijan and Victor Pugliese, 8-4.

Freshmen Scott Bohne and Nikki Rae, the third team to compete in doubles, fell short in their first match in the qualifying round to Felix Van Kann and Nick Northcott from Loyola Marymount, 8-3.

In singles play, the No. 5 seed Pearce was defeated in the Round of 16 by Pepperdine’s David Sofaer, 6-1, 7-5.

After dominating in the first set, Sargeant couldn’t quite pull off the upset against No. 3 seed Hovhannisyan, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Cullimore advanced past the first round by overcoming a loss in the first set against Pugilese to win in three sets, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. Cullimore then fell short of moving on to the quarterfinals after falling to USC’s Michael Grant, 6-1, 7-5.

Saturday will be the final day of play before the Cougars return to Provo.

The tournament can be followed by visiting USTA’s website.