CORPUS CHRISTI -- The No. 65 BYU men’s tennis team closed out the HEB Invitational with a 4-1 loss to No. 53 Middle Tennessee. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 8-6 while Middle Tennessee improves to 7-6.

The Blue Raiders earned the early advantage after winning two pairs matches to lock up the doubles point. The Cougars won 8-1 at the No. 3 position but lost by the same score at the No. 1 position. MTSU’s Robert McKenzie and Morgan Richard handed Daniel Hwang and Cassidy Mears their first doubles loss of the season on court two to win the point.

Trouble continued for the Cougars in singles play as Middle Tennessee easily secured wins on courts one and two. Richard clinched the match for the Blue Raiders with his defeat of freshman Georgy Batrakov at No. 4.

Mears earned BYU's lone point, quickly defeating his MTSU opponent 6-2, 6-2 on court five. Both Roman Warias and Travis Fillmore trailed in their respective matches when play was suspended.

BYU will return to action next week against No. 27 Boise State in Idaho.

Match Results
#53 Middle Tennessee- 4
#65 Brigham Young- 1
Singles 
1. Robert McKenzie (MT) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
2. John Peers (MT) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Victor Melo (MT) vs. Roman Warias (BYU) 6-3, 4-3, unfinished
4. Morgan Richard (MT) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-0, 6-1
5. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Kyle Wishing (MT) 6-2, 6-2
6. Alex McCann (MT) vs. Travis Fillmore (BYU) 3-6, 2-3, unfinished
Doubles 
1. John Peers/Victor Melo (MT) def. Evan Urbina/A.J. Young (BYU) 8-1
2. Robert McKenzie/Morgan Richard (MT) def. Cassidy Mears/Daniel Hwang (BYU) 9-7
3. Thomas Shubert/Travis Fillmore (BYU) def. Kyle Wishing/Alex McCann (MT) 8-1

PROVO -- A challenging road trip awaits the No. 65 men’s tennis team this weekend. The Cougars will travel to Texas for the HEB Invitational, hosted by No. 52 Texas A & M-Corpus Christi. Other teams participating in the tournament include No. 73 Western Michigan, No. 53 Middle Tennessee, No. 50 DePaul, No. 35 Texas Tech and conference for No. 33 New Mexico.

“The competition will be great,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We’re looking forward to the opportunity to face other high-ranked teams to get a feel for how good we really are.”

The Cougars will kick off the tournament Friday against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are 4-3 on the season. They earned their third consecutive win in a victory over New Mexico State last week. TTU freshman Raony Carvalho is currently ranked No. 45 in the country. He and partner Christian Rojmar captured the No. 10 spot in doubles.

“We’ve been looking at line up issues to see if we can be competitive at every position,” Pearce said. “Doubles play has still been sporadic.”

BYU is guaranteed at least three matches during the invitational. The teams will play the first two rounds Friday with the third round and championship match played Saturday. The Cougars’ match against Texas Tech begins at 9 a.m. CT.