SANTA CLARA, Calif. – BYU men’s tennis fell 4-3 in its final league match of the weekend to Santa Clara at the Degheri Tennis Center.

"Santa Clara is a tough team out on their courts-- they played well and fought hard at every position," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "Congratulations to them. The positive take away from today's loss is that we competed so hard. We felt capable of coming home 3-0 after this trifecta, and we had a match point for the win to do it and were right there. Those will start going our way as we learn from them and make adjustments. I'm proud of the way this team competes." 

BYU (16-6, 5-2 WCC) started the match strong by winning the doubles point over Santa Clara (10-8, 2-3 WCC). Ben Gajardo and David Ball defeated Connor Garnett and Kamran Khan 6-3 in No. 3 doubles. The Broncos answered with a win in No. 2 doubles with Vasileios Iliopoulos and Jesus Barajas defeating BYU brother duo John Pearce and Matthew Pearce 6-3.

With doubles split 1-1, a 6-2 win from Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu over Andrew Gu and Robert Seby in the No. 1 slot helped the Cougars secure the doubles point over the Broncos.

Up 1-0 moving into singles, BYU dropped the first two singles matches. J. Pearce fell to Garnett 6-4, 6-1 in No. 4 singles, while Hsu lost to Barajas 7-6, 6-1 in the No. 2 slot. Sam Tullis earned the Cougars their first singles win of the day after defeating Seby 6-2, 6-3 in No. 3 singles.

Tied 2-all, Santa Clara took the next win in No. 1 singles with Gu defeating Hill 6-1, 7-5, but BYU’s Gajardo won in the No. 5 slot 7-5, 6-4 over Iliopoulos, moving the tie to 3-all.

Santa Clara’s Sebastien Mathieu clinched the match with a three-set (4-6, 7-6, 6-4) win over Ball in No. 6 singles to lead the Broncos to a 4-3 win over the Cougars.

BYU concludes regular-season play hosting two league opponents next week. The Cougars play No. 49 Loyola Marymount Friday, April 13, at 1 p.m. MST, and Pepperdine on Saturday, April 14, at noon MST. Both matches will be played at the Outdoor Tennis Courts and live stats will be available on the men’s schedule page.

Match Results

BYU 3, Santa Clara 4

Doubles Results

1. HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) def. GU, Andrew/SEBY, Robert (SC) 6-2
2. ILIOPOULOS, Vasileios/BARAJAS, Jesus (SC) def. PEARCE, John/PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) 6-3
3. GAJARDO, Ben/BALL, David (BYU) def. GARNETT, Connor/KHAN, KAMRAN (SC) 6-3

Order of finish: (3, 2, 1)

Singles Results

1. GU, Andrew (SC) def. HILL, Sean (BYU) 6-1, 7-5
2. BARAJAS, Jesus (SC) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 7-6, 6-1
3. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) def. SEBY, Robert (SC) 6-2, 6-3
4. GARNETT, Connor (SC) def. PEARCE, John (BYU) 6-4, 6-1
5. GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. ILIOPOULOS, Vasileios (SC) 7-5, 6-4
6. MATHIEU, Sebastien (SC) def. BALL, David (BYU) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4

Order of finish: (4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6)

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PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis travels to California for three West Coast Conference matchups against Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and Santa Clara this week.

The Cougars play Saint Mary’s Thursday, April 5, at 2 p.m. PST at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex. BYU then takes on San Francisco Friday, April 6, at 1 p.m. PST at the California Tennis Club. The team rounds its three-match slate at Santa Clara Saturday, April 7, at 11 a.m. PST at the Degheri Tennis Center. Links to live stats are available on the men’s schedule page.

BYU (14-5, 3-1 WCC) is looking to get back to winning after two disappointing losses last week. Jeffrey Hsu led the Cougars with two victories in No. 2 singles while Matthew Pearce added a win in No. 6 singles. 

Saint Mary’s
The Gaels (3-13, 0-4 WCC) are coming off two losses to conference foes Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. BYU has won the last four matchups against Saint Mary’s.

San Francisco
The Dons (6-12, 2-2 WCC) recorded wins against Pacific and Saint Mary’s in league play. BYU is 6-0 in matchups against San Francisco since 2012.

Santa Clara
In league play, the Broncos (9-8, 1-3 WCC) swept Saint Mary's 4-0 but fell to Portland and Gonzaga. BYU lost 4-2 last year to Santa Clara in the WCC tournament but defeated the Broncos in the previous three matchups.

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