Shane Monroe returns the ball during a match. Monroe was one of four Cougars to reach the round of 16 at ITA Regionals. (Ari Davis)
BYU men's tennis made history this weekend as four players made it into round 16 at ITA Regionals in New Mexico.
This year Keaton Cullinmore was the top finisher and made it into the quarterfinals. Andrey Goryachkov, Shane Monroe and Jacob Sullivan made it to round 16. BYU tennis has never before had four players reach the round of 16 at the ITA Regional tournament.
This was Cullinmore's first regional tournament since returning from his LDS mission to England this past summer. Cullinmore entered the tournament as the No. 31 seed. He upset the tenth seed, Boise State's Toby Mitchell, and the fourth seed, Utah University's Parker McGuiness, to advance to the quarterfinal of the men's singles draw. He lost the quarterfinal match to the eighth seed, Utah's Dan Little.
Cullinmore also made it to the quarterfinals in the doubles bracket with teammate John Pearce. They lost to the third seed in the quarterfinal match.
After losing the second round of the main draw, Jeremy Bourgeois made a good run in the singles consolation bracket, making it to the semifinals. Bourgeois withdrew from the singles match against Denver University's Jesse Ruder-Hook, as the team does not compete on Sundays.
This was the last tournament of the fall for the Cougars. They will train over the winter and begin play again in January. The team heads to Hawaii on Jan. 15 to face BYU-Hawaii.