Hill advances to championship singles match in ITA Regional tournament

USTA/ITA Regional Tournament draw

PROVO, Utah— BYU sophomore Sean Hill beat No. 4 Christofer Goncalves of New Mexico State 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4 Friday afternoon in the semifinals to advance to the championship match in the USTA/ITA Regional tournament.

Friday morning, Hill earned a victory over No. 9 Samuel Serrano of Utah State 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. He will compete Saturday at 11 a.m., in the championship singles match. Win or lose, Hill has earned a spot in the ITA Fall Championships.

“I am so happy for Sean,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “What a beautiful match of tennis. I give credit to his opponent. Both players left it out on the court, and the quality of tennis was extremely high. It was a great day to be a college tennis coach, and I’m so happy for Sean and the program. The goal is to win the tournament, and I think tomorrow he can go out and play the kind of tennis he wants to play.”

Hill and junior Jeffrey Hsu advance to the semifinals in main doubles draw Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., after beating fellow teammates sophomores Sam Tullis and David Ball 8-2. Earlier Friday morning, Hsu and Hill beat No. 4 Christofer Goncalves and Luis Flores of New Mexico State 8-5. Tullis and Ball earned a victory over Matteo Tinelli and Ryland McDermott 8-4 Friday morning before falling to Hsu and Hill later in the day.

In the singles consolation bracket, Matthew Pearce earned a victory over Chris Steele of Northern Arizona 4-6, 6-4, 11-9. Earlier Friday, he beat Idaho’s Esteban Santibanez by default 6-4, 5-4. M. Pearce will continue in the consolation singles bracket Saturday morning at 9 a.m.  Jacob Tullis fell to Kris Van Wyk of Weber State 6-4, 6-2. J. Pearce lost to Utah State’s Valdemar Holm 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.

In the doubles consolation bracket, freshman J. Tullis and senior J. Pearce fell to Hou-en Chen and Cezary Walkusz of Weber State 8-6. Junior M. Pearce and freshman Ben Gajardo lost to Northern Arizona’s Felix Schumann and Chris Steele 8-3. Freshman Artsiom Ausiyevich and sophomore Victor Brown fell to Creel Smith and Joaquim Espinoza of Montana State 8-4.

The tournament will conclude Saturday, and the results can be found here.