LOS ANGELES—Another rough match ended in the No. 36 BYU men’s tennis team’s second loss on the road this week, this time falling 6-1 to No. 9 UCLA on the Bruins’ home courts Friday.
One bright spot of the day for BYU (1-2) came on Court 2 when junior Spencer Smith took down No. 72 Clay Thompson in a tiebreaker set, 2-6, 6-3, (10-6).
“I was really proud of Spencer,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “He beat Thompson, who won the Southern Cal Intercollegiate Championships this fall, so that was a big win for him. I felt at every position we competed really well. It’s obviously a little tough to be 1-2 on the season, but UCLA is No. 9 in the country. They’re a great team, a great program. And this was a better match at sea level than yesterday.”
No. 106 Patrick Kawka lost a tough set to No. 86 Marcos Giron at the No. 3 position, falling 7-5, 7-6 (4) to put UCLA (1-0) ahead 4-0 in the overall score.
Francis Sargeant pushed both his sets against Alex Brigham to tiebreakers, but Brigham pulled away with the 7-6, 7-6 (2) sweep.
BYU dropped its other three singles matches in straight sets to finish with the 6-1 loss.
The Cougars struggled in doubles play, with all three BYU partnerships losing 8-3 contests against their respective opponents.
The BYU netters will return to California next weekend for a match against Vanderbilt Friday at 1 p.m. PST.
BYU : 1
UCLA : 6
Doubles
1. Meister/Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Batrakov/Kawka (BYU) 8-3
2. Brigham/Giron (UCLA) def. Sargeant/Smith (BYU) 8-3
3. Warren Hardie/Thompson (UCLA) def. Cullimore/Eraso (BYU) 8-3
UCLA Wins Doubles Point
Singles
1. Nick Meister (UCLA) def. #43 Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. #72 Clay Thompson (UCLA) 2-6, 6-3, (10-6)
3. #86 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #106 Patrick Kawka (BYU) 7-5, 7-6(4)
4. Maxime Tabatruong (UCLA) def. #67 Keaton Cullimore (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Alex Brigham (UCLA) def. Francis Sargeant (BYU) 7-6, 7-6(2)
6. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. Michael Eraso (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
Match Notes
BYU 1-2; National ranking #36
UCLA 1-0; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,4,3,1,2,5)