PROVO, Utah – After dropping two tough matches to Ivy League competitors, BYU men’s tennis returns home to host regional opponents Denver, Montana State and Northern Arizona this weekend.
BYU (2-3, 0-0 WCC) faces Denver on Friday, Feb. 3, at 5:30 p.m. MST before playing in a doubleheader against Montana State and Northern Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 12 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively. With a victory over any of the three teams, BYU head coach Brad Pearce will earn the 200th win of his career.
Senior Jacob Sullivan was the only Cougar to record two victories in Massachusetts last weekend, as BYU fell to Harvard and Cornell. Sullivan fought his way back in a three-set tiebreaker over Harvard’s Andy Zhou and defeated Cornell’s Pietro Rimondini, both at fifth singles. Senior Keaton Cullimore also picked up a win against Cornell as he upset No. 62 Chris Vrabel at No. 2 singles.
Denver (1-2, 0-0 Summit League) boasts several ranked players in the Mountain Region, including No. 3 Diogo Rocha, No. 9 Yannik James and No. 11 Alex Gasson. Gasson and James are ranked No. 1 in doubles while teammates Pedro Fernandez Del Valle and Jesse Rudder-Hook are ranked sixth. The Pioneers competed in the ITA Kick-Off Tournament last weekend where they fell to Old Dominion and Utah. BYU dropped a close 4-3 match to No. 52 Denver on the road last season.
Montana State (2-4, 1-0 Big Sky) picked up a 5-2 victory over Northern Colorado after dropping matches to University of Missouri-Kansas City and Air Force last week. BYU and Montana State last met in January 2015, when the Cougars swept the Bobcats 7-0 in Provo.
Northern Arizona (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky) will kick off its spring season at BYU this week. Sophomore Tim Handel is ranked No. 13 in the region and the Lumberjacks were selected to finish fourth in the Big Sky Conference. BYU defeated NAU 7-0 in Provo last season.
Admission to all three matches will be free to the public and free pizza will be provided. Links to live stats and a video stream can be found on the men’s tennis schedule page.