SALT LAKE -- Senior Jonathan Sanchez and sophomore Cassidy Mears will prepare to compete in the doubles final at the University of Utah Invitational after defeating two sets of opponents on Friday.
Three BYU pairs advanced in the tournament and found themselves playing in the semifinals. Mears and Sanchez defeated fellow teammates Tyler Clonts and AJ Young, 8-4, to move ahead to the finals. Thomas Shubert and AJ Young lost a close 8-6 match to Weber State's Sascha Kiehne and Fabio Mancarella.
"The goal is always to have an all BYU finals," said head coach Brad Pearce. "Even though that didn't happen we've had tremendous improvement from three weeks ago."
In singles play, newcomer Daniel Hwang won his quarterfinal match against Utah State's Oscar Ericsson, 6-2, 6-1. Playing as the lone Cougar in the semifinals, a hard-fought, three-game match against No. 2 seed Wes Hancock resulted in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss for Hwang. Pearce was impressed by the freshman's performance.
"Daniel [Hwang] had a very good tournament," said Pearce. "He showed the coaching staff a lot and exceeded our expectations. I'm very pleased with how well he did."
In the singles quarterfinals, Shubert lost a 6-4, 6-2 match against Hancock. Cassidy Mears fell to Utah's Zach Granger who is ranked No. 33 in the national rankings. Despite the losses, BYU will continue working throughout the next few months, setting goals along the way.
"Our team will continue to set high expectations, and work towards fulfilling those expectations," said Pearce. "We'll work hard throughout this fall season in order to get ourselves where we need to be by January."
The doubles final match will take place at noon on Saturday at the Liberty Park Tennis Center in Salt Lake.
RESULTS
Z. Ganger UTAH def. C. Mears BYU, 6-0, 6-0
W. Hancock UTAH def. T. Shubert BYU, 6-4, 6-2
D. Hwang BYU def. O. Ericsson UTAH ST, 6-2, 6-1
W. Hancock UTAH def. D. Hwang BYU, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
T. Shubert and A. Young BYU def. Z. Ganger and J. Taylor UTAH, 8-6
S. Kiehne and F. Mancarella WEBER ST def. T. Shubert and A. Young BYU, 8-6
T. Clonts and T. Young BYU def. J. Asplund and O. Ericsson Utah St, 8-5
C. Mears and J. Sanchez BYU def. S. Jacobs and A. Maharaj Utah, 9-7
C. Mears and J. Sanchez BYU def. T. Clonts and T. Young BYU, 8-4