BYU tennis: Cougara defeats UNLV 5-0 at home

PROVO, Utah – The No. 50 BYU men’s tennis team topped the UNLV Rebels 5-0 at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts Friday.

“UNLV is a really solid regional rival of ours, I’m surprised we took care of them like we did,” head coach Brad Pearce said. “I’m gaining a lot of confidence in our team.”

The Cougars improve to 8-2 on the year, while the Rebels suffer their first loss of the season.

The young duo of freshman John Pearce and sophomore Keaton Cullimore were off the court first as they quickly defeated Gilad Berman and Carlos Di Larua 8-1 on Court 3.

Patrick Kawka and Francis Sargeant secured the doubles point with an 8-4 victory over Bernard Schoeman and Ace Matias.

In singles play, Sargeant didn’t lose a single game as he crushed his opponent on Court 3. Cullimore also finished strong and beat Berman in short sets 6-3, 6-1.

On Court 1, Kawka earned the deciding point by defeating Matias 6-4, 7-5.

Senior Spencer Smith rounded out the BYU victory with a long three-set win on Court 2.

The Cougars return to action tomorrow against No. 52 Denver at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. Admission is free.

Doubles

1. Kawka/Sargeant (BYU) def. Schoeman/Matias (UNLV) 8-4

2. Smith/Rae (BYU) vs. Market/Batya (UNLY) 6-6 (DNF)

3. Cullimore/Pearce (BYU) def. Berman/Di Laura (UNLV) 8-1

Order of finish: 3, 1

Singles

1. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Ace Matias (UNLV) 6-4, 7-5

2. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Tamas Batyi (UNLV) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5

3. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Charlie Alvarado (UNLV) 6-0, 6-0

4. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def. Gilad Berman (UNLV) 6-3, 6-1

5. John Pearce (BYU) vs. Bernard Schoeman (UNLV) 6-2 (DNF)

6. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) def. Johannes Markel (UNLV) 6-4 (DNF)

Order of finish: 4, 3, 1, 2

Aaron Sorenson is the tennis sports information director at BYU.