CORPUS CHRISTI -- Starting off strong in the H.E. B. Tournament of Champions with a sweep of No. 52 DePaul, the No. 50 BYU men’s tennis team came out on top in a 4-0 duel with No. 45 Maryland Friday to advance to the tournament final.

"We had two good, solid wins against ranked teams," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "They were both tough teams. The guys showed great effort physically and mentally and a tremendous amount of heart. They did a great job of closing out matches and not giving any up. I'm really pleased with that. It tells me every guy is refusing to quit."

Spencer Smith of Salt Lake City defeated Maryland's No. 111 Sergio Wyss to start off scoring (6-0, 6-2). The next point on the board came from Thomas Shubert taking out Tommy Laine 6-1, 6-4.

On Court 2, Georgy Batrakov faced John Collins for his own 6-1, 6-4 victory and freshman Patrick Kawka sealed the Cougar win with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Andy Magee.

BYU (8-4) sneaked by DePaul in doubles, Smith and Warias downing Ben Hartman and Filip Dzanko 9-8 on Court 3 after Shubert and Batrakov’s 8-3 win on Court 2 against George Chanturia and Matija Palinic. Urbina and Kawka fell in a close match on Court 1 to Sven Kasper and Bartosz Jozwiak (8-6).

Team captain Urbina faced Kasper again in singles action, this time stealing a straight-set victory on Court 1 (6-0, 6-4) to take the match 4-0 for BYU. Kawka scored BYU’s first singles point with his 6-1, 6-1 win against Jozwiak, followed by a win on Court 2 from Batrakov against Palinic (6-4, 6-2).

In both matchups, the other singles matches were suspended after BYU took its fourth point.

Saturday, BYU faces the winner of Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Purdue's match in the final at noon.

No. 50 BYU vs. No. 52 DePaul
BYU-4     DP-0
Doubles
1. Kasper/Jozwiak (DP) def. Kawka/Urbina (BYU) 8-6
2. Batrakov/Shubert (BYU) def. Chanturia/Palinic (DP) 8-3
3. Smith/Warias (BYU) def. Dzanko/Hartman (DP) 9-8
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Sven Kasper (DP) 6-0, 6-4
2. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Matija Palinic (DP) 6-4, 6-2
3. Spencer Smith (BYU) vs. George Chanturia (DP) 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 unfinished
4. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Bartosz Jozwiak (DP) 6-1, 6-1
5. Thomas Shubert (BYU) vs. Filip Dzanko (DP) 4-6, 6-1, 1-1 unfinished
6. Roman Warias (BYU) vs. Ben Hartman (DP) 6-2, 2-4 unfinished
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1

No. 50 BYU vs. No. 45 Maryland
BYU-4     UM-0
Singles
1. Evan Urbina (BYU) vs. Maros Horny (UM) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 unfinished
2. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def.  John Collins (UM) 6-1, 6-4
3. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Sergio Wyss (UM) 6-0, 6-2
4. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Andy Magee (UM) 6-4, 6-4
5. Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Tommy Laine (UM) 6-1, 6-4
6. Roman Warias (BYU) vs. Jesse Kiuru (UM) 3-6, 5-4 unfinished
Order of finish: 3, 5, 2, 4

PROVO -- With the potential of going up against ranked teams from across the country, the No. 50 BYU men’s tennis team will challenge No. 52 DePaul Friday at 9 a.m. in the H.E.B. Tournament of Champions hosted by Texas A&M, Corpus Christi.

BYU, fresh off its sweep of No. 48 Denver, holds a 6-4 record. Led in singles by team captain Evan Urbina with 22 wins this season, the Cougars look to continue their two-match winning streak. Urbina also leads the team in doubles with freshman partner Patrick Kawka. The duo is 15-6 on the season.

The Blue Demons (9-2) won their last four matches, including a 5-2 win Saturday against another H.E.B. Tournament contestant, Western Michigan.

Among BYU’s possible competitors in future rounds are No. 45 Maryland, No. 46 New Mexico, No. 54 Texas A&M C. C., Purdue, Western Michigan and MTSU.

Maryland (8-2) boasts No. 72 Maros Horny with 15 singles victories and No. 111 Sergio Wyss also with 15. No. 56 doubles pair Tommy Laine and John Collins are undefeated this season with a 3-0 record. New Mexico is 8-2 on the season and defeated DePaul (6-1) and Texas A&M C. C. (7-0) in January. Host Texas A&M C.C. is 6-5.

The winner of BYU and DePaul’s match will play the winner of the Maryland and Western Michigan match Friday at 4 p.m. and the losers will play each other in the consolation bracket at the same time. The final match will be played Saturday at noon.