ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. – Sean Hill, Mateo Vereau Melendez, Jack Barnett and Sam Tullis advanced to the singles round of 16 and four Cougar pairs advance to the doubles round of 16 at the Jack Kramer Invitational on Thursday.
"Everybody played great tennis today, which was exciting to see," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "Every match, we as coaches, see improvement and that's what we're looking for during our fall season. It's great getting competition outside of our region against some of the best players and teams in the country. That's why we're here. Advancing four players into the round of 16 was a great day for Cougar tennis."
Singles
Seven Cougars advanced from the round of 64 to the round of 32.
Matheus Ferreira Leite defeated Stewart Block from the University of Arizona, 6-1, 7-5, while Ben Gajardo bested UCLA’s Matthew Tsolakyan, 6-4, 6-3. Brocton Andrus recorded a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Sahm Irvine of UC San Diego and Sam Tullis topped Arizona’s Jared Horwood, 7-5, 6-3.
Jack Barnett, Hill and Vereau Melendez all had byes into the round of 32.
David Ball dropped his round of 64 match 6-7, 3-6 to USC’s Rae Lan. Vinicius Feijao Nogueira lost to Stepan Holis of the University of New Mexico, 1-6, 2-6. Kobe Tran put up a fight against Joseph Rotheram of UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), taking the first set off a tiebreak win, but later fell in three sets, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7.
In the round of 32, four Cougars came out with wins.
No. 2 seed Hill defeated UCSB’s Joshua Williams in a quick 6-4, 6-1 match and Vereau Melendez handily topped Wilhelm Saiga of UCSB, 6-4, 6-1. Tullis bested Ivan Thamma of UC Davis, 6-1, 7-6 and Barnett claimed a win over David Goulak of UC Davis, 7-5, 6-1.
Andrus fell 6-7, 1-6 to the University of San Diego’s Nico Borter and Barnett lost his match against David Goulak of UC Davis, 5-7, 1-6. Gajardo fought hard against the No. 5 seed, Carlos Hassey of Arizona, but ultimately lost in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-7. Ferreira Leite fell to the No. 1 seed, Arizona’s August Holmgren in two sets, 5-7, 1-6.
Doubles
Cougar duos Hill and Vereau Melendez, Andrus and Tran and Ball and Feijao Nogueira all received byes into the round of 16.
Barnett and Ferreira Leite competed against UC San Diego’s Sahm Irvine and Neil Tengbumroong and defeated the pair, 8-3.
Gajardo and Tullis took on Hassey and Hiroki Sakagawa of Arizona but fell 6-8.
Tomorrow, Barnett, Hill, Tullis and Vereau Melendez will compete in the singles round of 16 and four Cougar pairs will compete in the doubles round of 16. The tournament draws and results can be found here.