PROVO, Utah – With its second 6-1 conference win of the weekend, the No. 45 BYU men’s tennis team topped the Portland Pilots Saturday at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

“We had a great showing in doubles and played with real intensity today,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We want to do that, come out and sweep doubles. We came out strong in singles too and executed our play. This was the first match the team has played outside at home and the guys adjusted really well to it.”

The Cougars (13-7, 3-2 WCC) recorded their second doubles sweep of the weekend. All three BYU doubles teams took a 5-2 lead over their respective opponents. Playing at the No. 3 doubles position, freshman Keaton Cullimore and senior Michael Eraso were the first to close out their match, recording an 8-3 win over Daniel Coelho and Justin Guay. Senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka topped their Court 1 opponents 8-4 to secure the doubles point for the Cougars. Freshman Francis Sargeant and senior Spencer Smith completed the sweep, taking a 7-5 win on Court 2.

The Cougars carried their momentum into singles, winning five of the six first sets over the Pilots (11-5, 1-2 WCC). Smith set off a chain reaction after posting the first BYU singles win, 6-4, 6-1 on Court 1. Kawka quickly followed with his own win (6-4, 6-1) on Court 2 to put the Cougars up 3-0.

Cullimore secured BYU’s third conference win minutes later, coming away with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alex Ferrero on Court 4. Eraso pushed the match score to 5-0 after holding his opponent to winning only three games in his straight set win on Court 5 (6-1, 6-2).

The final two matches came down to tiebreakers. On Court 3, Sargeant held on to take a 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 decision while Fillmore fell 2-6, 6-4, 13-11 at the No. 6 singles position to give Portland its lone point of the day.

“It would have been nice to see 7-0 but Travis Fillmore put up a good battle,” Pearce said. “It’ll be good to have a little break for the guys to finish finals before we finish the regular season at home,” Pearce said.

The Cougars take a week break before hosting Loyola Marymount and perennial powerhouse Pepperdine April 20 and April 21 in conference showdowns at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

Portland – 1
BYU – 6
 

Singles competition:
1. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Stefan Micov (UP), 6-4, 6-1
2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Geoff Hernandez (UP), 6-4, 6-1
3. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Michael Hu Kwo (UP), 2-6, 6-4, 10-7
4. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def. Alex Ferrero (UP), 6-2, 6-3
5. Michael Eraso (BYU) def. Justin Guay (UP), 6-1, 6-2
6. Daniel Coelho (UP) def. Travis Fillmore (BYU), 2-6, 6-4, 13-11
Order of finish: 1,2,4,5,3,6

Doubles competition:
1. G. Batrakov/P. Kawka (BYU) def. A. Ferrero/M. Hu Kwo (UP), 8-4
2. S. Smith/F. Sargeant (BYU) def. S. Micov/G. Hernandez (UP), 7-5
3. K. Cullimore/M. Eraso (BYU) def. D. Coelho/J. Guay (UP), 8-3
Order of finish: 3,1,2

PROVO, Utah – Returning home to finish its regular season, the No. 45 BYU men’s tennis team hosts Gonzaga Friday before welcoming Portland Saturday.

The Cougars (11-7, 1-2 WCC) split their matches over the weekend, taking a 5-2 decision against Saint Mary’s before falling 4-3 to then-No. 19 San Diego.

Junior Spencer Smith and freshman Francis Sargeant went undefeated in singles over the weekend for BYU. Smith improved to a team-best 26-7 overall record while Sargeant is 20-12 overall. Together, the No. 2 doubles pair is 19-10.

Playing at the No. 1 doubles position, senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka went undefeated in doubles last weekend and extend their overall record to 20-8.

No. 45 Batrakov represents BYU in the national singles rankings.

Gonzaga (8-7, 1-2 WCC) is coming off a week break. In its last match, the Zags were shut out by San Diego, 6-0. Zhia Hwa Chong leads Gonzaga with an 18-5 overall singles record.

The Pilots (11-4, 1-1 WCC) are led by Alex Ferrero, who has a team-best 13-6 overall singles record. Portland dropped a 5-2 decision to then-No. 56 Oregon in its last match.

Friday’s match against Gonzaga kicks off at 11 a.m. MDT at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. The match Saturday will begin at 10:30 a.m. MDT at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts. Match locations may change due to weather. Admission is free. Pizza and prizes will be provided.