Cougars fall in Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash. – BYU men’s tennis dropped its sixth consecutive match Friday in a 4-3 nail-biter with West Coast Conference foe Gonzaga in Spokane.

The Cougars (9-15, 3-4) fell behind early when the Zags (10-7, 2-4) took the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Francis Sargeant and Shane Monroe won at No. 1 doubles but the duos of Jeremy Bourgeois with Jacob Sullivan and David Ball with Aidan Carrazedo both fell at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

Carrazedo regained some momentum for BYU with a quick victory at No. 6 singles when he beat Vicente Varas 6-2, 6-1 in the only two-set match of the day. Gonzaga bounced back at No. 1 singles where Alvaro Nazal outplayed Sargeant to a 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2 victory to recapture the lead but Monroe won 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in his matchup with Nick Kamisar to even the score.

The Cougars got their first lead of the match at 3-2 shortly after when Juan Canales pulled out a win at No. 5 singles, beating Sergio Chip 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4. Despite only needing one more victory to clinch the match, BYU could not close it out and lost at Nos. 3 and 4 singles. Sullivan fell to Hayden Smith 0-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 and Bourgeois dropped his No. 4 match to Vladimir Mijatovic 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1) to give the Zags the 4-3 win.

The Cougars travel to Portland tomorrow for their final WCC match tomorrow at 1 p.m. PDT.