PROVO, Utah - The BYU men’s tennis team wrapped up the second day at the Utah Fall Tennis Classic as four Cougar players advanced into the last two rounds of the tournament at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.
“I thought there was a lot of good tennis played today,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “I was encouraged by our freshmen. I’m always pleased when we’re advancing into the semis and finals. I’m glad our guys have this opportunity to get into the groove of things and get into shape, especially with such great competition.”
The duo of Patrick Kawka and Keaton Cullimore played a long doubles match and narrowly defeated Slim Hanza and Devin Lane, 9-8. The Cougar team will play in the final round of the doubles tournament tomorrow afternoon. Their opponents, Justin Archer and Rafael Davidian, both play for the University of Utah.
In singles play, Cullimore didn’t see the same success. He lost to Rafael Davidian, 6-3, 6-2. Kawka defeated Mitchell Smith handily, 6-1, 6-1. He then topped fellow Cougar Francis Sargeant, 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals.
BYU senior Spencer Smith also earned his way to the semifinals by overcoming two opponents. In the morning he cruised past Todd Fought, 6-2, 6-2. In the afternoon, his victory didn’t come quite as quickly, but he came out on top over Alejandro Medinilla, 6-4, 6-1.
Before losing to Kawka in the quarterfinals, Sargeant fought his way through the longest match of the day, defeating Devin Lane, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. BYU freshman John Pearce advanced to the quarterfinals by topping Justin Archer 6-4, 6-2. However, in the next round, he developed a cramp and was not able to finish his match. He lost 6-4, 6-7(2), 3-2, to Dmytro Mamedov.
In the consolation bracket, junior Travis Fillmore advanced to the quarterfinals after topping Lane, 6-2. 6-2.
The final day of the tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. The singles finals match will begin at noon with the finals doubles match starting immediately after.
Admission is free and open to the public. You can follow the tournament by clicking here.