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May 10 | 10:00 AM
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Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center
University Avenue University MS 38677
AaronS
| Posted: 10 May 2013 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 38 BYU men’s tennis team fell to No. 32 Memphis 4-0 in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center on Friday.
The Cougars finished the year 21-7, including 11-0 at home, notched another undefeated campaign in the mountain region and earned second place in the West Coast Conference.
“We had a good opportunity to be in post-season play which was earned through a great season,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We had some adversity to overcome as a team in post-season play but it was a great achievement to get this far. Obviously, we’re disappointed but I felt like our preparation was great. I felt like our guys gave it everything they had but it just didn’t go our way today. Give credit to Memphis, we wish them success in their next round. We appreciate the hospitality of Ole Miss, they ran a first-class regional.”
Memphis’ team of Johnny Grimal and Luks Vrnak grabbed an 8-3 decision over sophomore Keaton Cullimore and freshman Nikki Rae at the No. 2 doubles position to earn the first win of the day.
Then on court 1, BYU’s Andrey Goryachkov and Francis Sargeant gave the No. 64 nationally ranked duo of Joe Salisbury and David O’Hare all they could handle but were unable to come away with the victory, 8-6, giving the Tigers a 1-0 advantage.
In singles play, the bright spot for the Cougars was Cullimore at the No. 2 position where the sophomore came from behind to claim the first set, 7-5. Despite a valiant effort, he went on to lose the next two sets, 6-3, 6-3, giving the overall victory to Memphis.
In similar fashion, Sargeant narrowly lost on court 1 to Salisbury, 7-5, 6-4. Goryachkov dropped his match at the No. 3 position 6-2, 6-0 to Johnny Grimal.
Throughout the 2013 season, BYU earned two WCC Player of the Month awards and had three players named to the All-WCC teams.
Doubles
1. #64 Salisbury/O’Hare (UM) def. Goryachkov/Sargeant (BYU) 8-6
2. Grimal/Vrnak (UM) def. Cullimore/Rae (BYU) 8-3
3. Fillmore/Pearce (BYU) vs. O’Leary/Zutter (BYU) 7-7 DNF
Order of finish: 2, 1
Singles
1. Joe Salisbury (UM) def. Francis Sargeant (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
2. Luks Vrnak (UM) def. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
3. Johnny Grimal (UM) def. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
4. John Pearce (BYU) vs. David O’Leary (UM) 5-7, 1-2 DNF
5. Travis Fillmore (BYU) vs. David O’Hare (UM) 2-6, 0-2 DNF
6. Nikki Rae (BYU) vs. Cedric De Zutter (UM) DNF
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
AaronS
| Posted: 8 May 2013 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
PROVO, Utah - The No. 38 BYU men's tennis team will face No. 32 Memphis in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships on Friday at noon ET at the University of Mississippi.
This marks the fourth time that BYU has competed in the 64-team postseason tournament under coach Brad Pearce.
“We’re excited that we can continue our season and have the opportunity to represent the university in Mississippi,” Pearce said.
BYU finished the 2012-13 campaign in second place in the West Coast Conference with a 7-1 mark. Two weeks ago the Cougars advanced to the finals of the league championship, narrowly losing to No. 8 ranked Pepperdine, 4-3.
This will be the first match between the Cougars (21-6) and the Tigers (14-7). BYU enters the tournament with 10 wins in its last 12 matches. Memphis is riding a seven-match win streak going into the tournament, including a victory over No. 50 Louisville. In the second match of the day on Friday, hosts Ole Miss will battle Lehigh.
The winners from Friday's matches advance to the round of 32 on Saturday. Live scoring for all the weekend's matches will be available by visiting Ole Miss' website.
The last time BYU competed in the NCAA tournament was in 2011 when they fell to San Diego in the first round.
