PROVO, Utah – The BYU men's tennis team finished its first fall tournament competition with some positive results competing in an event in Milwaukee, WI and one in Tucson, AZ this weekend.
Milwaukee Tennis Classic
Two wins from Sam Tullis brings him to the championship match of the consolation bracket in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, hosted by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
“We got a lot better this week,” BYU assistant coach Aidan Carrazedo said. “This was a high caliber tournament with plenty of quality players. We played a lot of good matches and this will set us up nicely for our competitive fall schedule.”
S. Tullis won two matches on Saturday, the first against P. Lohrback of the U.S. Naval Academy 6-1, 6-2 and the second against M. Ogden of North Carolina State 6-2, 6-3. He then received a bye into the championship match of the consolation bracket. Jeffrey Hsu lost his singles match against J. Levin of Minnesota 7-5, 6-2
Ben Gajardo and S. Tullis defeated Myers and Baretto of Marquette and California respectively in their first doubles match of the day 8-1. They advanced to play Weidmann and Touliatos where they fell 7-6 to the Tennessee pair in a close match.
Wildcat Invitational
Six BYU players traveled to Tucson, AZ this weekend to compete in the Wildcat Invitational. The Invitational was divided into four singles draws and two doubles draws, both of which the Cougars participated in.
“This has been a great weekend of tennis for our team,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “Tournament play is where the rubber meets the road, so we have a better idea of what need to work on with each player. It’s a great group of young men; they are a pleasure to work with.”
Day One
Mateo Vereau Melendez and Matthew Pearce competed in the Australian Open Draw. Vereau won his first match against Ruben Montano of Northern Arizona University 6-2, 7-5. He then lost his second match in the championship bracket against Grand Canyon University’s Valentin Lang, 6-2, 6-4. Pearce fell to Wyatt Demulling of Boise State in his first match of the tournament 6-4, 7-5. Moving into the consolation bracket, Pearce lost to the University of New Mexico’s Karlo Divkovic 6-3, 7-6(1).
There were three Cougars who competed in the French Open Draw: Jacob Tullis, Vinicius Feijao Nogueira and David Ball. J. Tullis lost his first singles match to Lucas Grego of Grand Canyon University 6-1, 6-3 and later fell to Boise State’s Simon Arca Costas 6-1, 6-2 in the consolation bracket. Nogueira fell to New Mexico State’s Martin Simecek 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
In the consolation bracket, he later lost to Chris Steele of North Atlantic University in a close match 6-4, 1-6, 10-7. Ball lost his first match 3-7, 7-5, 6-4 to Rafa Gonzalez Almaza of San Diego State. He went on to win his match against Ron Iszon of North Atlantic University 5-7, 6-3, 10-6 in the consolation bracket.
Kobe Tran competed in the Wimbledon Draw and won his first match against Luis Flores of New Mexico State University 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Moving onto the championship bracket, he lost his second match to North Atlantic University’s David Nguyen 7-5, 0-6, 7-5.
Ball and Nogueira lost to Hassey and Horwood of Arizona in the Wilbur Wildcat Doubles Draw 6-4. In the same doubles draw, Pearce and Vereau fell to New Mexico State’s Dehaan and Benitez 6-4.
Day Two
Pearce won in the South Draw consolation championship match in the Australian Open Compass. 7-6, 1-6, 10-8 by defeating Fisher of North Atlantic University. Vereau lost in the North Draw championship match 6-2, 6-3 to De Haan of New Mexico State University.
In the French Open Draw, Ball lost to Arca Costas of Boise State 6-2, 6-2 in the consolation quarterfinals.
J. Tullis and Nogueira both competed in the French Open Compass on Saturday. J. Tullis won the North Draw consolation championship against Idzon of North Atlantic University. Nogueira defeated Benetiz of New Mexico State University to win the South Draw consolation championship. Both J. Tullis and Nogueira won their matches after the opposing player was injured mid-match.
Tran competed for the championship of the Wimbledon Compass and defeated Rosas Garcia of New Mexico State University 6-3, 6-3.
Ball and Nogueira lost to Kirchoff and Almazan of San Diego State 6-3 in doubles. Vereau and Pearce also competed in doubles and after a close match, they fell to Boise State’s Demulling and Blancaneaux 7-6(5).
J. Tullis and Tran competed together against Buitrago and Rosas of New Mexico State and won 7-6, which sent them to the championship quarterfinals. There they faced Grego and Grant of Grand Canyon University but withdrew from the match because the championship match was being played on Sunday.
The Cougars will travel to Tulsa, OK to compete in the ITA All-American tournament Oct. 1-6.