SAN DIEGO – BYU men’s tennis drops its first West Coast Conference match of the season 4-2 against No. 42 San Diego Saturday afternoon at the USD West Tennis Courts.

BYU (14-5, 3-1 WCC) came off a heartbreaking loss Friday to UC Irvine and was ready to bounce back against San Diego (9-7, 3-0 WCC). Despite the effort, the Cougars dropped the doubles point to the Toreros. No. 79 duo Joel Gamerov and August Holmgren defeated Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu 6-2 in No. 1 doubles. In the No. 2 slot, Nico Borter and Pratt Keerasuntonpon earned a 7-5 victory over BYU’s John Pearce and Ben Gajardo.

Moving into singles, San Diego claimed the first two wins. No. 121 Gamerov defeated J. Pearce 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 3 slot, while Araouzos Alexandros earned a three-set win (4-6, 6-3, 6-2) over Gajardo in No. 5 singles.

Matthew Pearce earned BYU its first win of the day with a 7-5, 7-5 victory against Keerasuntonpon in the No. 6 slot. Hsu defeated Borter 7-6, 6-4 in No. 2 singles, bringing the Cougars down just one 3-2 against the Toreros.

Sam Tullis dropped his match 7-6, 6-4 against David Nordfeldt in No. 4 singles, solidifying the San Diego win 4-2 over BYU.

The Cougars have a busy next week on the road with three conference matches. BYU plays against Saint Mary's on Thursday, April 5, at 2 p.m. PST, San Francisco on Friday, April 6, at 1 p.m. PST and Santa Clara on Saturday, April 7, at 11 a.m. PST. 

Match Results

BYU 2, San Diego 4

Doubles Results

1. No. 79 GAMEROV, Joel/HOLMGREN, August (USD) def. HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 6-2
2. BORTER, Nico/KEERASUNTONPON, Pratt (USD) def. PEARCE, John/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) 7-5
3. PEARCE, Matthew/TULLIS, Jacob (BYU) vs. NORFELDT/ARAOUZOS, Alexandros (USD) 6-5 (DNF)

Order of finish: (1, 2)

Singles Results

1. No. 77 HOLMGREN, August (USD) vs. HILL, Sean (BYU) 6-7, 6-1, 3-3 (DNF)
2. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) def. BORTER, Nico (USD) 7-6, 6-4
3. No. 121 GAMEROV, Joel vs. PEARCE, John (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
4. NORFELDT, David (USD) def. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) 7-6, 6-4
5. ALEXANDROS, Araouzos (USD) def. GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) def. KEERASUNTONPON, Pratt (USD) 7-5, 7-5

Order of finish: (3, 5, 6, 2, 4)

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PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis travels to California for two matchups against UC Irvine Friday morning and West Coast Conference opponent No. 42 San Diego Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars (14-3, 3-0 WCC) play against UC Irvine Friday, Mar. 30, at 10 a.m. PST at the Anteater Tennis Stadium. BYU will then face conference foe No. 42 San Diego on Saturday, Mar. 31, at 2 p.m. PST at the USD West Tennis Courts.

BYU is coming off an emotional three-match weekend with a big 4-1 conference win over Gonzaga, a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to in-state rival No. 39 Utah and a 4-3 victory against regional opponent UNLV.

Sophomore Sam Tullis led the Cougars with three singles wins last weekend in No. 4 singles. Sophomore Sean Hill and freshman Ben Gajardo picked up two more singles wins in No. 1 and No. 5 singles, respectively.

Doubles duo Gajardo and senior John Pearce claimed three wins in No. 2 doubles over the weekend. The pair is 9-3 on the season. Hill and junior Jeffrey Hsu remain undefeated (10-0) on the season and earned two more doubles wins in the No. 1 slot.

UC Irvine

The Anteaters (10-7) had a bye week last weekend after picking up wins against Gonzaga, Yale and Liberty University two weeks ago. Riding a seven-game winning streak, UC Irvine competes this week against No. 4 UCLA.

Sasha Krasnov was recently named Big West Athlete of the Week after coming in 4-0 in No. 2 singles last week and has won seven-straight singles matches. Luis Lopez leads the Anteaters with 11 match wins this season. BYU and UC Irvine last met in 2009 where the Cougars went home with a 4-3 win.

No. 42 San Diego

The Toreros (8-7, 2-0 WCC) are coming off two big wins against Denver and conference opponent Portland.

With many ranked players, San Diego will be ready to compete against BYU. In singles, No. 77 August Holmgren plays in the No. 1 slot. He is 8-4 during the regular season. No. 121 Joel Gamerov plays in the No. 3 slot and is 9-5 this season.

The Toreros sports two nationally ranked doubles teams. No. 72 Gui Osorio and Nico Borter play primarily in the No. 1 slot and No. 79 duo Joel Gamerov and August Holmgren play in the No. 2 slot.

San Diego and BYU are tied 3-3 in the last six matchups with the Cougars sweeping the Toreros 4-0 last year.

Links to live stats are available on the men’s schedule page. Results will be updated following the matches.

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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).