PROVO, Utah – An overall team effort helped BYU men’s tennis defeat West Coast Conference opponent Gonzaga 4-1 Friday afternoon at the Indoor Tennis Courts.

"I thought Gonzaga did a nice job of coming in and preparing — they are a great team," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "It was a tough match, and I'm pleased that we prevailed. It is a challenging weekend with a rivalry match after an important WCC match, but I thought our guys handled it well. They did a great job of taking it one match at a time and not looking beyond the mark. I'm happy to get another home win, and we're looking forward to tomorrow." 

The Cougars (13-2, 3-0 WCC) quickly won in No. 1 doubles against the Bulldogs (7-5, 0-2 WCC). Undefeated duo Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu earned a 6-2 win over Vincent Rettke and Kyle Everly. Sam Tullis and David Ball dropped their match against Emilio Moreno and Ruadhan O’Sullivan 6-4 in No. 3 doubles. With BYU and Gonzaga tied at a match a piece, the Cougars claimed the doubles point with a close 7-6 win from John Pearce and Ben Gajardo over Matthew Perkins and Hunter Egger in No. 2 doubles.

Up 1-0, BYU won three-consecutive singles matches. Hill defeated O’Sullivan 6-0, 6-3 in No. 1 singles, while teammate Tullis earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over Egger in No. 3 singles. Gajardo, who is undefeated in singles, solidified the Cougar win with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Emilio Moreno (No. 4 singles), giving BYU its fourth win of the day.

Gonzaga’s Vincent Rettke defeated Hsu 6-3, 6-3 in No. 2 singles to earn the Bulldog’s their first win, concluding the match with a final score of 4-1.

The Cougars head to Salt Lake City to play against in-state rival Utah on Saturday, March 24, at 2 p.m. MST at the Eccles Tennis Center. BYU returns home Monday, March 26, at 1 p.m. MDT to host UNLV. The match will be played at the Outdoor Tennis Courts, weather permitting. Live stats will be available on the men’s schedule page.

Match Results

BYU  4, Gonzaga 1

Doubles Results

1. HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) def. RETTKE, Vincent/EVERLY, Kyle (Gonzaga) 6-2
2. PEARCE, John/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. PERKINS, Matthew/EGGER, Hunter (Gonzaga) 7-6(1)
3. MORENO, Emilio/O’SULLIVAN, Ruadhan (Gonzaga) def. TULLIS, Sam/BALL, David (BYU) 6-4

Order of finish: (1, 3, 2)

Singles Results

1. HILL, Sean (BYU) def. O’SULLIVAN, Ruadhan (Gonzaga) 6-0, 6-3
2. RETTKE, Vincent (Gonzaga) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
3. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) def. EGGER, Hunter (Gonzaga) 6-4, 6-3
4. GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. MORENO, Emilio (Gonzaga) 6-3, 6-2
5. EVERLY, Kyle (Gonzaga) def. BALL, David (BYU) 7-6(2) (DNF)
6. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) vs. PERKINS, Matthew (Gonzaga)

Order of finish: (1, 3, 4, 2)

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PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis hosts West Coast Conference foe Gonzaga Friday, is at No. 33 Utah Saturday before returning home to host UNLV Monday afternoon.

BYU (12-2, 2-0 WCC) faces conference opponent Gonzaga Friday, March 23, at 1 p.m. MST at the Indoor Tennis Courts. The Cougars are at No. 33 Utah Saturday, March 24, at 2 p.m. MST at the Eccles Tennis Center. After Saturday's match in Salt Lake City, BYU returns home to battle UNLV Monday, March 26, at 1 p.m. MST at the Indoor Tennis Courts.

The Cougars are coming off a big weekend in Indian Wells, California competing in the BNP Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge presented by Oracle. After dropping its first match in a close defeat against Tulsa, BYU bounced back and earned a 4-1 victory over SMU.

Freshman Ben Gajardo is undefeated (12-0) in No. 5 singles and teammate Sam Tullis is on a 6-0 winning streak for singles at the No. 4 spot. Doubles duo Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu remain undefeated in No. 1 doubles (8-0).

Gonzaga
The Zags (7-4, 0-1 WCC) are also coming off a 1-1 split. Gonzaga fell to UC Irvine but returned home and beat Yale 5-2. The Zags opened conference play last month against Portland with a 4-0 loss. BYU has defeated Gonzaga the last two years with the same 4-0 score.

No. 33 Utah
The Utes (16-2) had a bye last week but earned a  4-3 win over UNLV the previous week. BYU’s Hill defeated No. 1 seed Dan Little of Utah in the ITA Mountain Regional tournament in October in the Round of 16. Last year, the Utes beat the Cougars 4-2 and are tied in the all-time series 3-3.

UNLV
The Rebels (8-5) defeated Marquette 5-2 last weekend. No. 89 Alexandr Cozbinov plays in the No. 1 singles slot for UNLV. He is 9-2 this season and had a big win over Martin Redlicki from No. 7 UCLA. The Cougars lost to the Rebels 4-1 last year but won the three previous meetings.

Admission to the home matches is free to the public and pizza will be provided for the fans. Links to live stats and a video stream are can be found on the men’s schedule page.

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Fans can keep up with the latest on Cougar tennis by following us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/byumenstennis), Twitter (@BYU_Mens_Tennis) and Instagram (@byumtennis).