PROVO, Utah – Sophomore Jacob Sullivan clinched the 4-3 victory for BYU men’s tennis (7-2, 1-0) over a resilient Saint Mary’s (1-4, 0-1) Wednesday.
“I have to give credit to Saint Mary’s,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “They kept fighting and stuck around for the whole match and we really had to battle for this one. It was nice to see Jake get the clinching win, and it was good to get our first conference win.”
The Cougars jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead by snatching the doubles point. The BYU duos of Francis Sargeant/Andrey Goryachkov and Sullivan/David Ball both secured 6-4 victories in their matches to clinch the point. Robin Pfister and Jeremy Bourgeois were tied 5-5 in their match when it was called.
In singles play, Sullivan and Sargeant shined. Sargeant was first off the court after a dominating 6-1, 6-2 win over Thomas Hunt. The Gaels got on the board when Arthur Weber beat Shane Monroe 6-3, 6-4. The loss was Monroe’s first of the season.
The Cougars split the next two matches as Bourgeois fell to Will Martin 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) while Goryachkov defeated Samuel Bloore 6-2, 7-5. Needing only one win to clinch the match, Sullivan stepped onto the court and left no doubt. He quickly defeated Alec Wagner 6-3, 6-1 to give BYU the victory. Freshman David Ball fell in the last matchup of the evening in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4).
The Cougars head to California this weekend and put their five-match win streak on the line against No. 36 Stanford Saturday in Palo Alto. Over the course of those five matches, BYU has outscored its opponents 33-2.