Cougars to host home opener against T-Birds

PROVO, Utah—The BYU men’s tennis team kicks off their 2016 season against the Southern Utah University T-Birds Friday evening at home.

"We are delighted to get in a home match prior to our first away trip next week," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "SUU tennis is an up-and-coming program. They are excited to start their season on our home courts in front of a great crowd, and we wanted to get our fans excited and revved-up about our men's tennis team and the incredible atmosphere of a home match, so starting our season against them was a win-win for both programs."

BYU features six returning players from the 2015 season. The team also consists of three players returning to the team after their LDS missions.

The Cougars have one senior on the team, Andrey Goryachkov. They also boast five juniors and three sophomores. The captains this year are junior Keaton Cullimore and sophomore John Pearce.

Southern Utah comes to Provo for their first match of the season. They did not compete in 2015 tournament play and are returning seven players from their previous season. They feature two seniors, one junior and six underclassmen.  

Admission to all tennis games is free and free pizza is also avaliable for those fans that attend. As a special promotion for this match, those who arrive before the 5:30 pm start time will be entered in a drwaing to win prizes such as a tennis racquet or a racquet bag. The drawing will be held during the intermission of doubles and singles.

The Cougars travel to Hawaii next week for three matches and will not be back home until January 22 when they will play Weber State. Live stats to those matches, as well as Friday’s match, can be found on the men’s tennis schedule page.