No. 39 BYU falls short against No. 8 Pepperdine

MALIBU, Calif. – In a battle against the top two teams in the West Coast Conference, the No. 39 BYU men’s tennis team lost to No. 8 Pepperdine 6-1 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Friday.

The Waves (22-5, 8-0 WCC) claimed the conference title with their win over the Cougars (19-5, 6-1 WCC).

“We got a good start to the match by winning the doubles point,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We lost to a good team but I was very proud of our guys, they gave a great effort today.”

Pepperdine earned the first win of the day with a victory at the No. 2 doubles position but BYU responded with an 8-6 win by Travis Fillmore and John Pearce on court 3.

The No. 84 doubles duo of Patrick Kawka and Francis Sargeant clinched the doubles point by topping Sebastian Fanselow and Francis Alcantara 9-7.

The Waves featured four singles players with national rankings, including No. 8 Fansleow. Sargeant took No. 103 Finn Tearney to three sets at the No. 3 singles position but narrowly lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

On court 6, Fillmore played in just his second singles match this season. The junior fell to David Sofaer 6-2, 6-3. Pepperdine claimed the other four singles matches in straight sets to earn the victory.

BYU plays its final match of the regular season on Saturday on the road against Loyola Marymount at noon PDT.

Doubles

1. #84 Kawka/Sargeant (BYU) def. Fanselow/Alcantara (PEP) 9-7

2. Sarkissian/Tearney (PEP) def. Goryachkov/Smith (BYU) 8-5

3. Fillmore/Pearce (BYU) def. Gryzelko/Hovhannisyan (PEP) 8-6

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles

1. #8 Sebastian Fanselow (PEP) def. #38 Patrick Kawka (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

2. #103 Finn Tearney (PEP) def. Spencer Smith (BYU) 6-3, 6-3

3. #92 Alex Sarkissian (PEP) def. Francis Sargeant (BYU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

4. #100 Francis Alcantara (PEP) def. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-4, 6-1

5. Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEP) def. John Pearce (BYU) 6-1, 6-1

6. David Sofaer (PEP) def. Travis Fillmore (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

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