LOS ANGELES – After defeating two ranked teams last week, the No. 57 BYU men’s tennis team suffered its first loss of the season as it fell to the No. 3 UCLA Bruins 6-1 in the final match of the ITA Kick-off Weekend at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Monday.
BYU's (5-1) lone point came on court 2 as Patrick Kawka defeated Dennis Novikov 6-3, 7-6.
"I was really happy for Kawka, beating a player on UCLA's team that is among the top 500 in the world in the professional rankings," head coach Brad Pearce said.
Sophomore Keaton Cullimore took his first set to a tiebreak but couldn’t beat Adrien Puget and fell 7-6, 6-3.
Two of the singles losses came to ranked players. Spencer Smith lost to No. 12 Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2 while Francis Sargeant fell to No. 41 Dennis Mrktchian 6-4, 6-2.
The Cougars came close to winning the doubles point as Kawka and Francis Sargeant topped Giron and Novikov 8-7(4), but partners Cullimore and John Pearce narrowly lost their match 8-7(4).
"It has been a long, arduous week in Los Angeles," coach Pearce said. "But I am proud of what we accomplished and am looking forward to our two matches this weeked."
BYU will travel back to California this Friday to take on No. 10 Standford at 1:30 p.m. PST then host Air Force at home on Saturday.
Doubles
1. Kawka/Sargeant (BYU) def. Giron/Novikov (UCLA) 8-7(4)
2. Puget/Sell (UCLA) def. Goryachkov/Smith (BYU) 8-1
3. Brigham/Mrktchian (UCLA) def. Cullimore/Pearce (BYU) 8-7(4)
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. #12 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. Spencer Smith (BYU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Dennis Novikov (UCLA) 6-3, 7-6
3. Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Keaton Cullimore 7-6, 6-3
4. #41 Dennis Mrktchian (UCLA) def. Francis Sargeant (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Clay Thompson (UCLA) def. John Pearce (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 1, 5, 4, 2, 3