Keaton Cullimore drives a groundstroke back to his opponent on Friday night against the Portland Pilots. (Natalie Stoker)
The BYU men’s tennis team dominated this weekend at home while defeating Portland 5-2 and sweeping Gonzaga 4-0.
The indoor tennis courts were packed Friday night, drawing a large crowd that included BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe.
The Portland Pilots came to play and the doubles matches were evenly-matched. Jacob Sullivan and John Pearce took the first win of the night, winning 6-3. Andrey Goryachkov and Keaton Cullimore secured the doubles point with their 6-4 win, and Jeremy Bourgeois and Aidan Carrazedo’s match was suspended at 4-5.
Goryachkov continues to be a consistent backbone for the team, winning his match 6-4 and claiming the first singles point. Soon after, Sullivan fell in three sets. In a battle of groundstrokes, Shane Monroe proved dominant, winning 6-4, 6-4 to push the overall score to 3-1.
Despite a three set loss for Cullimore, Pearce and Bourgeois closed out their respective singles matches in two sets to finalize the Cougar victory.
“I was pleased with our players; they came out with a lot of energy,” Pearce said. “To see our guys to come through and start the WCC season this way is a great achievement on their part.'
The doubles point went to BYU, with Bourgeois and Carrazedo’s swift 6-2 victory. Pearce and Sullivan followed shortly with a 6-3 win. As the doubles point had already been won, Cullimore and Goryachkov’s match was left unfinished at 4-3.
The singles play continued just as smoothly with swift, two set victories from Sullivan (6-3, 6-2), Cullimore (6-4, 6-0) and Goryachkov (6-4, 6-4).
The team hits the road to play the University of New Mexico on March 4.