Cougars top South Florida at ITA Kick-off Weekend

LOS ANGELES – After hours of rain delays, the No. 57 BYU men’s tennis team earned a 4-0 victory in the ITA Kick-off Weekend against No. 50 South Florida Saturday afternoon at the Sycamore Courts.

With the win over South Florida, BYU improves to 5-0 on the year.

“I was really proud of our guys for clinching the win today,” head coach Brad Pearce said. “Due to the strange weather, the match became a very tough, physical battle.”

The match was originally scheduled for Friday morning but didn’t begin until Saturday afternoon due to heavy rain in Los Angeles.

Junior Patrick Kawka and sophomore Francis Sargeant got the first win for the Cougars by defeating Ignacio Gonzalez and Oliver Pramming 8-7. The Cougar duo of Keaton Cullimore and John Pearce secured the doubles point as they beat Everth Dzib and Juan Carlos Acuna 8-3.

In singles play, Kawka got a victory on Court 2 over Gonzalez 6-4, 6-2. Smith then topped Pramming on Court 1, 7-6, 6-1.

Sargeant clinched the BYU victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win of his own against Patel.

The match was called once the Cougars secured their third singles point because of the bad weather.

Doubles

1. Kawka/Sargeant  (BYU) def. Gonzalez/Pramming (USF) 8-7

2. De Vilchez/Patel (USF) def. Fillmore/Smith (BYU) 8-4

3. Cullimore/Pearce (BYU) def. Acuna/Dzib (USF) 8-3

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles

1. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Oliver Pramming (USF) 7-6, 6-1

2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Ignacio Gonzalez (USF) 6-4, 6-2

3. No. 105 Federico Sabogal (USF) and Keaton Cullimore (BYU) 6-2, 4-4 (DNF)

4. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Ravi Patel (USF) 6-3, 6-3

5. John Pearce (BYU) Guillermo De Vilchez (USF) 6-3, 3-6, 3-4 (DNF)

6. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) Everth Dzib (USF) 6-4, 6-7(4) (DNF)

Order of finish: 2, 1, 4