BYU Holds Off Pilots in Men's TennisPROVO, Utah --- The No. 75 Portland men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to the BYU Cougars in West Coast Conference men's tennis action Saturday afternoon at BYU. The Pilots conclude the regular season with a 12-8 overall and 5-4 WCC record. BYU improves to 9-14 overall and 4-5 in league play.
The Pilots will enter the 2014 WCC Championships as the No. 3 seed in the tournament and face No. 10 seeded Gonzaga in the opening round on Tuesday, April 26.
Saturday started with the Cougars taking the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions.
BYU kept the momentum early in the singles action, jumping out to a 3-0 lead with straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 5.
Portland would bounce back to make it interesting by pushing the last four singles matches to three sets. Senior Ratan Gill secured the Pilots' lone point at the No. 3 position, but BYU would hold on for wins at No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6.
"Doubles was not great and we had ten different excuses to roll over after the doubles but we didn't," head coach Aaron Gross said. "This is one of the toughest places to play in the country with the altitude. We kept our heads down and our mouths shut and grinded away. We lost a trio of three setters where we just ran out of gas.
"Reid (deLaubenfels) served for the match in the second set and was up a break in the third. Justin (Guay) battled back after losing a two hour first set and Kent (Andreasen) battled back after losing the first. Ratan (Gill) has played his best tennis of the season the last few matches and came out with a nice win today. Honestly, I am super proud of how we competed today. There are a lot circumstances that might have our guys playing the 'shoulda-coulda' game, but we aren't going there. We simply just did not have enough kick in the home stretch to get it done, but we will fly home knowing we put it all out there."
Portland senior Alex Ferrero (foot) did not play in the match. Below are the complete results from Saturday's match.
BYU 6, No. 75 Portland 1
Provo, Utah
April 19, 2014
Singles1. SARGEANT, Francis (BYU) def. HU KWO, Michel (POR) 6-4, 6-0
2. GORYACHKOV, Andrey (BYU) def. DeLAUBENFELS, Reid (POR) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
3. GILL, Ratan (POR) def. BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
4. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) def. GUAY, Justin (POR) 7-5, 0-6, 6-1
5. SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU) def. WALLACE, Alex (POR) 6-1, 7-5
6. CARRAZEDO, Aidan (BYU) def. ANDREASEN, Kent (POR) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles1. GORYACHKOV, Andrey/PFISTER, Robin (BYU) def. ANDREASEN, Kent/DeLAUBENFELS, Reid (POR) 8-3
2. SARGEANT, Francis/PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) vs. HU KWO, Michel/GUAY, Justin (POR) 7-6 Unfinished
3. SULLIVAN, Jacob/BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU) def. WALLACE, Alex/GILL, Ratan (POR) 8-3
