The unbeaten streak continues for the No. 41 BYU men’s tennis squad.
In another difficult WCC match at the indoor tennis courts, BYU (14-4, 3-0 WCC) prevailed over San Francisco 4–3 Friday afternoon. With the win, the Cougars maintained their lead atop the WCC standings and extended their home court record to 9–0.
“We’re having a good season,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “I didn’t like losing the doubles point today, but the guys came back and fought hard. I was proud of that.”
In an effort to improve the Cougars’ doubles play, Coach Pearce made some changes to the starting lineup against the Dons.
Things didn’t turn out as planned though, with San Francisco winning the doubles point.
In a tightly contested match in the No. 1 position, BYU junior Patrick Kawka and sophomore Keaton Cullimore lost to Nils Skajaa and Bernardo Saraiva 9–7.
BYU picked up its only doubles win from junior Travis Fillmore and sophomore Francis Sargeant, who defeated USF’s Jonathon Knowlman and Richard Bucalem 8–3.
In an unfamiliar position being down 1–0 at home, the Cougars rallied back in singles to come away with four wins.
Cullimore and Sargeant got the Cougars off to a quick start in singles with their straight-set victories.
Sargeant defeated Will Schumacher 6–2, 6–1 and Cullimore dispatched Rich Van Hout 6–0, 6–3.
With the score at 2–1, No. 42 Kawka defeated Thai Tu 7–6, 6–2. Kawka is now 8–1 at home and 14–3 overall this season.
“Thai Tu is a very good player, so I think winning in straight sets was a great effort on Patrick’s part,” Coach Pearce said.
Up 3–1 BYU’s John Pearce then delivered the decisive blow in his 6–1, 6–1 win against San Francisco’s Germain Bahri. It was John Pearce’s second straight win.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit, but today I played like I feel like I should be playing,” John Pearce said. “Everything just clicked.”
BYU’s Spencer Smith and San Francisco’s Saraiva battled back and forth on court two with Saraiva eventually prevailing in straight sets. Saraiva won the tightly contested first set in a tiebreak. Smith came back in the second set to take a 3–0 lead, but Saraiva battled back to keep his personal unbeaten streak alive. He won six of the next seven games to win the match.
BYU’s last home match of the season will come next week against Saint Mary’s.
