Cougars remain unbeaten in conference

PROVO, Utah – Freshman David Ball helped BYU to a win against conference foe Santa Clara 4-2 Saturday in Provo.

“I’m proud of how our guys bounced back tonight,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “After a tough rivalry match, you don’t know how your team will respond. The guys responded well tonight with a big conference win. We will build off this and keep getting better.”

The Cougars (8-8, 2-0) got on the board quickly after two quick victories in doubles. Shane Monroe and Jeremy Bourgeois did not drop a game in a 6-0 win over the Broncos' duo of Sebastian Mathieu and Michael Standifer. Francis Sargeant and Andrey Goryachkov followed quickly at No. 1 doubles with a 6-2 victory against Ashot Khacharyan and Mikheil Khmisdashvil.

Santa Clara (4-7, 0-2) bounced back to even the score in singles when Ilya Osintsev outplayed Goyrachkov 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. After taking the first set, Sargeant dropped the next two in a battle with Khacharyan at No. 1 singles, losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Down 2-1, BYU reeled off the next three matchups to clinch the win. Monroe came back to beat Khmisdashvili in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Ball got on the court and quickly gave the Cougars the lead in dominating fashion, winning 6-0, 6-3 against Mathieu.

Jacob Sullivan battled to a three-set victory at No. 4 singles against Sam Bertram 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 6-2. With the third set score sitting at 5-2, Sullivan forced a deuce then hammered home the winner to clinch BYU’s second conference win.

The Cougars are back in action next Saturday when they welcome New Mexico to Provo at 1 p.m. MST. Live video and stats are available through the BYU men’s schedule page.