LOS ANGELES – The BYU men’s tennis team fell 7-0 to No. 11 UCLA on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“I would be much happier right now with a big, upset win, but I couldn’t be any prouder of the way our guys competed this afternoon against one of the best teams in the country," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "We battled at every position, going three sets on three courts. So there are a lot of positives to build on as a jumpstart to our season.”
The Cougars (0-1) put up a fight against the Bruins (1-0) but came up short in doubles competition.
At the No. 1 slot, Sean Hill and Mateo Vereau Melendez battled it out against UCLA’s Govind Nanda and Keegan Smith but fell 4-6. David Ball and Ben Gajardo dropped their match 1-6 at the No. 3 position against the Bruin duo, Bryce Pereira and Patrick Zahraj.
Moving into singles, UCLA claimed the next six wins. Hill toughed it out in the first position against No. 7 Keegan Smith and took him to three sets, but Hill ultimately fell 6-4, 3-6, 1-6. At No. 2 singles, Melendez battled with Govind Nanda, but lost 6-7 (7-9), 3-6.
After coming back to win the second set at the No. 3 slot, Matheus Ferreira Leite took Drew Baird to three, but fell 3-6, 6-3, 4-6. Jack Barnett dropped his match 2-6, 1-6 against Ben Goldberg at the No. 4 singles position.
After dropping the first set 0-6, Gajardo rallied back to win the second set 6-3, but fell in the third to Patrick Zahraj in a tiebreaker set at 6-7 (5-7). Ball faced Connor Hance in the No. 6 position, but fell 6-7 (4-7), 3-6.
The Cougars travel East to face George Washington University on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 1 p.m. EST. Live stats will be available on the men’s tennis schedule page.