Cougars drop close match with No. 44 Penn

BOISE, Idaho – Senior captain Francis Sargeant moved into seventh on the all-time BYU singles victory list in a losing team effort Friday night as the Cougars (7-6) fell to No. 44 University of Pennsylvania in Boise.

The Quakers (6-1) secured the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead out of the gate. Sargeant and David Ball fell 6-4 at the No. 3 spot to Penn duo Vim De Alwis and Blaine Willenborg while Aidan Carrazedo and Robin Pfister lost at No. 2 doubles 7-5.

The Quakers held onto the momentum heading into singles with a quick victory at No. 5 singles for the 2-0 lead. Willenborg defeated Ball 6-2, 6-3. The Cougars bounced back to tie the match with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 singles. Freshman Shane Monroe beat Matt Nardella 6-4, 6-4 and Sargeant recorded another victory over Vim de Alwis 7-6, 1-6, 6-1.

Penn regained the lead when Josh Pompan outlasted Jacob Sullivan in a three-set match, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. The overall match was clinched when Andrey Goryachkov fell in another three-set thriller 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 to the Quaker’s senior captain, Jeremy Court. Carrazedo picked up BYU’s third point with a win at no. 6 singles over Zach Lessen (5-7, 6-4, 6-4).

The Cougars stay in Boise for a matchup with host, Boise State, Saturday evening at 6 p.m. MST. Live scoring will be available through BYU men’s tennis schedule page.