LOS ANGELES – BYU men’s tennis was handed its first West Coast Conference loss of the season Friday at Loyola Marymount, losing 4-3.

The Cougars (9-12, 3-1) fell behind early after losing the doubles point despite winning at No. 1 doubles. The duo of Jacob Sullivan and Andrey Goryachkov was first off the court with a 6-2 victory in the No. 1 slot. However, the Lions (9-8, 1-4) won the next two matchups to take the point.

LMU’s Cristobal Rivera kept up the momentum heading into singles with a straight set victory over Sullivan 6-4, 6-2 to give the Lions the 2-0 lead in the match. Senior Francis Sargeant got BYU on the board at No. 1 singles, beating Charles Boyce 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 and Goryachkov evened the score from No. 3 singles with a win over Felix Van Kann 6-4, 6-3.

At No. 2 singles, freshman Shane Monroe fell in a third-set tiebreaker 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) to Errol Smith, giving LMU the 3-2 lead. Cougar sophomore Aidan Carrazedo kept BYU in the match with a win at No. 6 singles, beating Luke Bohuslov 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). The Lions wrapped up the match at No. 5 singles where Joat Farrah outplayed Jeremy Bourgeois to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

The Cougars will face No. 49 Pepperdine in Malibu on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT. 

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis hits the road this week to put their undefeated West Coast Conference record on the line with matches at Loyola Marymount and No. 49 Pepperdine.

The Cougars (9-11, 3-0) were in southern California last weekend for the BNP Paribas Open, one of the most competitive tournaments in college tennis. BYU lost in matches against No. 2 Baylor and No. 27 Tulsa but came away with some big wins. Francis Sargeant beat No. 33 ranked singles Or Ram-Harel in straight sets against Tulsa and combined with teammate Shane Monroe to beat the No. 53 ranked doubles duo in the nation.

The Lions (8-8, 0-4) hope a home match against the Cougars will provide their first conference win of the season. However, three of their four conference losses have come against the two ranked teams in the conference (No. 30 San Diego and Pepperdine) and Portland who is also undefeated in conference. LMU beat No. 72 Utah two weeks ago in Los Angeles.

The Waves (10-7, 2-1) currently sit at fourth in the WCC behind BYU, San Diego and Portland. Last season, Pepperdine visited Provo and delivered a heartbreaking loss to the Cougars in a tiebreaker in the final matchup of the match.

The match Friday against LMU will begin at 2 p.m. PDT and Saturday’s Pepperdine match in Malibu will begin at 1 p.m. PDT.