LOS -- Two BYU doubles pair earned spots in the quarterfinal round of the So Cal Intercollegiate Tennis Championship. Sophomores Evan Urbina and A.J. Young and duo Thomas Shubert and Georgy Batrakov must beat the No.1 and No. 2 seeds respectively to continue in the tournament.
Young and Urbina dominated their UC San Diego opponents 8-1 in the first round to move on, while Batrakov and Shubert defeated a USC pair 8-6 in the qualifying round to be eligible for the main draw. Once there, the Cougar twosome downed their Pepperdine challengers 8-4.
In the singles qualifying draw, Batrakov, Fillmore and Young won their matches and secured spots in the main draw. Freshman Roman Warias lost to UC Santa Barbara’s Evan Jurgensen in three sets, but went on to defeat two opponents in the qualifying backdraw. He will face Naveen Dixit from UC San Diego to win a place in the finals.
The Cougars struggled in the main draw with four players from BYU losing in the first round. Urbina forced his match with the tournament’s No. 1 seed Matt Brooklyn to go to three sets, but it was not enough to get the win. However, all four players won their matches in the back draw and will continue play Saturday.
Shubert gave the Cougars something to hope for with a first round win over UCLA’s Ahmed Ismail 7-6, 6-3. But USC’s Jason McNaughton proved to be too much for the sophomore, and he fell 6-4, 6-2.
The tournament will continue Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Matches begin at 11:30 a.m PST.
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