SAN -- The No. 64 men’s tennis team finished its first day in California with a 5-2 upset victory over No. 38 San Diego State. With the win, the Cougars improve to 2-2 in conference play while the Aztecs drop to 0-1.
“Our guys went out and fought hard start to finish,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “It’s a great breakthrough for us to not only beat a good, solid team but the highest-ranked team in our conference.”
Doubles play once again laid the foundation for BYU. The Aztecs took the first match on court one, but Cassidy Mears and Evan Urbina responded with an 8-4 win on court three to tie things up.
The point came down to Daniel Hwang and Thomas Shubert at the No. 2 position. The sophomores clinched it after edging Tim Schulz van Enders and Andre Felix, 9-7. The Cougars have yet to lose a match after winning the doubles point this season.
“Getting the doubles point was big for us,” Pearce said.
In singles, SDSU evened things out with a win on court one. Victories by Hwang and Urbina put the upset within reach for BYU. The Aztecs answered with Giovanni Vaglietti’s three-set win over Shubert at the No. 3 position.
That would be the last victory of the day for SDSU as Cassidy Mears and Georgy Batrakov pulled out tough wins for the Cougars.
“We’ve wanted to be operating on all cylinders at every position,” Pearce said. “As the end of the season draws near, we’re getting closer to achieving that goal and that’s encouraging.”
The team will face Air Force Friday and No. 42 New Mexico Saturday. Both matches begin at 9 a.m. PT at the Fairbanks Ranch Tennis Club in San Diego.
Match Results
No. 64 Brigham Young- 5
No. 38 San Diego State- 2
Doubles
No. 1 - Achim Ceban/ Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. A.J. Young/ George Batrakov (BYU), 8-1
No. 2 - Thomas Shubert/ Daniel Hwawng (BYU) def. Tim Schulz van Endert/ Andre Felix (SDSU), 9-7
No. 3 - Cassidy Mears/ Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Jordan Colman/Luis Rattenhuber (SDSU), 8-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
No. 1 – Achim Ceban (SDSU) def. Roman Warias (BYU), 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Juan Gomez (SDSU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 – Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU), 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 – Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Tim Schulz van Endert (SDSU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 – George Batrakov (BYU) def. Andre Felix (SDSU), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
No. 6 – Daniel Hwang (BYU) def. Jordan Colman (SDSU), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5