BYU tennis: Men's tennis tops Utah State and Weber State

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s tennis team defeated both Utah State and Weber State 7-0 in its first matches of the 2013 season at the Indoor Tennis Courts on Saturday.

“I was really pleased with our performance,” head coach Brad Pearce said. “It was good to have two competitive matches against good solid teams. They came to take it to us and I’m proud of how we defended our home court.”

The Cougars (2-0) first faced off against the Utah State Aggies. The duo of Patrick Kawka and sophomore Francis Sargeant finished the first match of the day as they beat Matt Sweet and Sean Lovesque, 8-4.

After being down 1-4, sophomore Keaton Cullimore and freshman John Pearce won seven consecutive games to top Brandon Nielsen and Fredrik Peterson, 8-4.

Teammates senior Spencer Smith and junior Travis Fillmore barely lost their doubles match, 8-7 (6), after playing in a seven-point tie-break to determine the winner.

In singles play, the No. 12 regionally ranked Kawka got the best of Poslusny, 6-3, 6-1. Smith also defeated his opponent Marcus Fritz, 6-4, 6-0.

Cullimore, the No. 18 ranked player in the region, topped Peterson, 6-1, 6-3. Sargeant won his match against Sweet, 6-2, 6-1 and then Pearce, No. 16 ranked regional player, beat Lovesque, 6-1, 6-1.

Newcomer Andrey Goryachkov won his first match as a Cougar. He faced Curran Wearmouth and came out on top, 6-1, 6-2.

BYU now has a 49-0 advantage all-time when facing Utah State.

After a short break, the Cougars took on the Weber State Wildcats. Again, BYU won eight of the nine matches against its in-state foe.

Most notably, Kawka and Sargeant defeated their doubles opponents, Todd Fought and Sanjay Goswami, 8-1. Kawka also dominated his singles match against Oliver Good, 6-0, 6-2.

The Cougars travel to New York next week to take on Fordham and Columbia.

BYU vs. Utah State

Doubles

1. Poslusny/Fritz (USU) def. Smith/Fillmore (BYU) 8-7 (6)

2. Kawka/Sargeant (BYU) def. Loresque/Sweet (USU) 8-4

3. Cullimore/Pearce (BYU) def. Nielsen/Petersen (USU) 8-4

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles

1. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Sven Poslusny (USU) 6-3, 6-1 2. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Marcus Fritz (USU) 6-4, 6-0 3. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def. Fredrik Peterson (USU) 6-1, 6-3 4. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Matt Sweet (USU) 6-2, 6-1 5. John Pearce (BYU) def. Sean Lovesque (USU) 6-1, 6-1 6. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) def. Curran Wearmouth (USU) 6-1, 6-1

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

BYU vs. Weber State

Doubles

1. Kawka/Sargeant (BYU) def. Fought/Goswami (WSU) 8-1

2. Smith/Rae (BYU) def. Good/Poitena (WSU) 8-3

3. Cullimore/Pearce (BYU) def. Gewert/Garner (WSU) 8-4

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles

1. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Todd Fought (WSU) 6-3, 6-2

2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Oliver Good (WSU) 6-0, 6-2

3. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Jakub Gewert (WSU) 6-1, 2-2 (Ret.)

4. John Pearce (BYU) def. Sanjay Goswami (WSU) 6-2, 6-4

5. Travis Fillmore (BYU) def. Ciao Poitena (WSU) 6-0, 6-2

6. Ryan Garner (WSU) def. Scott Bohne (BYU) 6-4, 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 6

Aaron Sorenson is the tennis sports information director at BYU.