PROVO, Utah – Helping BYU men's tennis bounce back after a close loss on Friday, junior John Pearce clinched the 4-2 victory over Santa Clara Saturday night at the BYU indoor tennis courts.
"I am amazed and inspired by the grit and resilience of my guys to bounce back like we did after a tough match last night," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "I was really proud of them for coming out and playing with the determination like they did. We had a great doubles performance tonight and I thought we competed really well at every position. I was also really impressed with the fight of Santa Clara. We got up 3-0 early, and they just didn't go away. My hat goes off to their effort."
BYU (9-7, 2-0 WCC) secured the doubles point for the 11th time this season, picking up wins over the Broncos (8-2, 0-1 WCC) on courts one and three. Jeremy Bourgeois and Matthew Pearce topped Robert Seby and Jesus Barajas 6-2. Jacob Sullivan and Aidan Carrazedo teamed up for the first time this year, taking down Andrew Gu and Kamran Khan, 6-4.
Senior Keaton Cullimore kicked off singles play with his second victory of the weekend at the No. 1 slot with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Seby. Matthew Pearce earned the Cougars' third point of the match as he bested Barajas 6-4, 7-6(3) before Santa Clara's Connor Garnett fought back with a 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(4) victory against Bourgeois at third singles. Sullivan then fell 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) to Andrew Gu at the No. 2 slot.
As the Broncos closed the gap 3-2, John Pearce dominated his second set to beat Vasileios Iliopoulos 7-5, 6-2 and clinch the victory for the Cougars. Carrazedo was ahead 6-3, 4-2 against Khan when the match was won.
Next, BYU travels to Las Vegas for a regional matchup against UNLV on Saturday, March 11, at 11 a.m. PST.
BYU Men's Tennis 4, Santa Clara 2
Doubles competition
- BOURGEOIS, Jeremy/PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) def. Robert Seby/Jesus Barajas (SCU) 6-2
- CULLIMORE, Keaton/PEARCE, John (BYU) vs. Connor Garnett/Vasileios Iliopoulos (SCU) 5-5, unfinished
- SULLIVAN, Jacob/CARRAZEDO, Aidan (BYU) def. Andrew Gu/Kamran Khan (SCU) 6-4
Order of finish: (1,3)
Singles competition
- CULLIMORE, Keaton (BYU) def. Robert Seby (SCU) 6-3, 6-1
- Andrew Gu (SCU) def. SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3)
- Connor Garnett (SCU) def. BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU) 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4)
- PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) def. Jesus Barajas (SCU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
- PEARCE, John (BYU) def. Vasileios Iliopoulos (SCU) 7-5, 6-2
- CARRAZEDO, Aidan (BYU) vs. Kamran Khan (SCU) 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
Order of finish: (1,4,3,2,5)