PROVO, Utah – The University of San Francisco men's tennis team nearly pulled off a road upset in its West Coast Conference opener Friday afternoon, falling to No. 41 BYU, 4-3.
The Cougars (13-4, 2-0 WCC) lead the WCC in overall wins and are the only team in the conference to post two league wins without a loss.
USF (6-4, 0-1 WCC) opened the day by winning the doubles point, but then went on to drop the first three singles matches.
The Dons would not go away, however, as back-to-back victories by
Nils Skajaa and
Bernardo Saraiva evened the score at 3-3 before BYU's John Pearce defeated
Germain Bahri at No. 6 singles to seal the Cougars' second conference win of the spring.
Saraiva's victory over Spencer Smith at No. 2 singles moved the sophomore's singles record to a perfect 9-0 on the year.
“Our team did a good job securing the doubles point to give us some help going into the doubles,” said USF coach
Peter Bartlett. “But it's important to note in very competitive matches like this all the players have to compete at each position to really give a chance to win. There's no doubt that beating BYU at home is a tough task, but we felt we had a lot of things lined up today to get the job done. We try to always talk to our team about these moments and how it takes full commitment from all the players to pull it off."
The Dons finish out their Utah road trip when they visit Weber State on Saturday, March 23 at noon.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
DOUBLES:
1. Nils Skajaa /
Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. Keaton Cullimore / Patrick Kawka (BYU) 9-7
2. Fillmore/Sargeant (BYU) def.
Richard Bucalem /
Jonathon Knowlman (USF) 8-3
3. Germain Bahri /
Thai Tu (USF) def. John Pearce / Spencer Smith (BYU) 8-6
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES:
1. #42 Patrick Kawka (BYU) def.
Thai Tu (USF) 7-6(4), 6-2
2. Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. Spencer Smith (BYU) 7-6(9), 6-4
3. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def.
William Schumacher (USF) 6-2, 6-1
4. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def.
Rich Van Hout (USF) 6-0, 6-3
5. Nils Skajaa (USF) def. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-4, 6-4
6. John Pearce (BYU) def.
Germain Bahri (USF) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2, 6
FINAL SCORE: BYU 4, USF 3
