No. 52 Denver hands BYU first loss of the season

BYU vs. Denver box score

DENVER—Despite hanging tough in a close match, BYU dropped its first match of the season 3-4 to No. 52 Denver University Saturday afternoon.

“It's always painful to lose a match when it could have gone either way,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “We'll make our evaluations as to where we need to get better as individuals and as a team, and we will focus on those things this upcoming week as we prepare for a series of regional rivalry matches, starting with Boise State next Saturday."

Denver (5-2) took control of the match early by winning the doubles point. Andrey Goryachkov and Jacob Sullivan lost to Denver’s Diogo Rocha and Zach Fryer 6-4. Shortly after, Shane Monroe and Jeremy Bourgeois lost to Alex Gasson and Henry Craig 6-4, sealing the Pioneer’s doubles point. Keaton Cullimore and John Pearce’s match against Denver’s David Fox and Jesse Ruder-Hook was suspended at 7-5 as the doubles point had been won.

BYU (8-1) gained ground back during singles play. After Goryachkov dropped his match to Gasson 6-3, 7-5, Bourgeois defeated Fryer, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Monroe defeated Fox 7-5, 6-4 to even the match at 2-2. Pearce defeated Denver’s Wyatt Lovera, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2, to give the Cougars a 3-2 advantage. Sullivan and Cullimore dropped both of their matches in three sets to give the Pioneers the final two needed for the victory.

The Cougars returns home for their next match against Boise State on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 5:30 p.m. MST. Free pizza will be provided for all that attend.

Live stats and video for the match can be found on the BYU men’s tennis schedule page.