PROVO, Utah – Freshman Shane Monroe made a big splash in his first tournament as a Cougar, taking former BYU No. 1 singles player, Patrick Kawka, to three sets (6-7, 6-1, 3-0) in the invitational singles final. Monroe had to retire the match in the third set due to injury.
“I know I can play better but I am happy with how I played in this tournament,” Monroe said. “I’ll be in top shape soon.”
Monroe took the first set in thrilling fashion, winning 13-11 in a set tiebreaker. During the tiebreaker, both players had several set points before Monroe finally prevailed. After the first set, the experienced Kawka took control and carried the momentum up to when the match was called.
“Shane [Monroe] showed some great stuff taking the first set against Kawka,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “He, along with his teammates, will be ready to close out those kinds of matches when regular season starts.”
Coach Pearce also left his mark on the invitational by teaming up with junior Andrey Goryachkov to win the doubles championship, defeating Kawka and fellow Cougar alum Michael Erazo (8-4).
Three members of the BYU tennis team delivered strong performances throughout the tournament. Monroe, Goryachkov and Juan Canales made the semifinals in singles and Kawka, a former player was the fourth. Likewise, three of the four doubles duos in the semifinals were comprised of current BYU players (Goryachkov/Pearce, Aidan Carrazedo/Jacob Sullivan and Jeremy Bourgeois/Canales) while the fourth team (Kawka/Erazo) was made of former Cougar teammates.
“I was proud of my players,” Pearce said. “It was a great weekend for Cougar tennis. I can’t wait for our first match of the season in January.”
The next BYU men’s tennis event will be Cougar Racqueteer Day on Saturday, Sept. 27. The Cougars will then play in the Utah Invitational in Salt Lake City Oct. 9-11.