The No. 45 BYU men’s tennis team lost it’s first match of the season to No. 8 Kentucky, 4-0, in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-Off Weekend at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky. on January 24.
Losing the match without their team captain, Francis Sargeant, the cougars fell to (4-1) while the wildcats improved to (5-0).
“I thought we put up a good fight against a very good team this afternoon,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “I was pleased with the effort. We were down a key man in Frankie (Sargeant), and Andrey (Goryachkov) is coming back from a sprained ankle. But we hope to have both of them ready for tomorrow against either Notre Dame or Minnesota.”
Sophomore Andrey Goryachkov lost the first singles spot in his match against Tom Jomby. Goryachkov kept the score close losing 6-4, 6-4.
BYU cougar Jeremy Bourgeois played hard, ending the first set in tiebreakers 6-5 (6). He battled with wildcat Beck Pennington until the match was called at a 2-2 tie.
Two BYU freshman put up solid play as well in the singles, although they would both lose their matches. Matthew Pearce lost to Alejandro Gomez 6-2, 6-2, while Juan Canales lost to Jerry Lopez 6-3, 6-0.
In doubles play, Kentucky claimed two more victories over the BYU freshmen. Juan Canales and Sterling Galli lost to Alejandro Gomez and Beck Pennington, 6-1. Matthew Pearce and Jacob Sullivan suffered the same fate from wildcats Nils Ellefsen and Ryuji Hirooka.
BYU will be back on the court in the consolation final of The ITA Kick-Off Weekend against No. 39 Minnesota today at 1 p.m. EST.
