BYU tennis falls to Tulsa 4-3 in Collegiate Tennis Challenge

Tournament Draw

Indian Wells, Calif. – BYU men’s tennis fell to Tulsa 4-3 in the opening round of the BNP Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge presented by Oracle Friday afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

"It's always a tough loss when you have match points for the team win and other matches are lost in three-set battles that could go either way," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "Nevertheless, I give Tulsa credit for pulling it out. Both teams deserved to win by their fight and competitiveness, but it went their way today. We've got to get ourselves ready to bounce back tomorrow morning with another opportunity against a quality team in SMU."

BYU (11-2) came out strong in doubles to claim the point over Tulsa (10-10) with wins in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Duo Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu remained undefeated as they earned a 6-2 win over Majed Kilani and Lucca Baptista 6-2. Teammates John Pearce and Ben Gajardo defeated Louis Corker and Mitchell Pritchard 6-2 to move the Cougars 1-0 into singles play.

Hill fell to No. 118 Kilani 6-0, 6-0 in No. 1 singles giving Tulsa its first point. Gajardo carried his winning streak in singles to earn a 6-0, 6-2 win over Corker. Sam Tullis battled and earned a solid 7-5, 6-3 win over Pritchard in No. 4 singles to help the Cougars take a 3-1 advantage against the Golden Hurricane.

Tulsa fought back and won the next two singles matches. No. 71 Joshua Goodger earned a win over Hsu in a close three-set match ending in a tiebreaker (6-4, 2-6, 7-6) and Borriss Kamdem defeated Matthew Pearce 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in No. 6 singles.

With BYU and Tulsa tied at 3-all, the match came down to No. 3 singles. Baptista defeated J. Pearce 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 in another close match ending in a tiebreaker, giving the Golden Hurricane a 4-3 win over the Cougars.

BYU battles SMU Saturday morning at 8 a.m. PST at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in the back-draw of the tournament. The draw can be found here. Live stats will be available on the men’s schedule page.

Match Results

BYU 3, TU 4

Doubles Results

1. HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) def. KILANI, Majed/BAPTISTA, Lucca (TU) 6-2
2. PEARCE, John/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. CORKER, Louis/PRITCHARD, Mitchell (TU) 6-1
3. TULLIS, Sam/BALL, David (BYU) vs. GOODGER, Joshua/KAMDEM, Jarod (TU) 5-6 (DNF)

Order of finish: (2, 1)

Singles Results

1. No. 118 KILANI, Majed (TU) def. HILL, Sean (BYU) 6-0, 6-0
2. No. 71 GOODGER, Joshua (TU) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6
3. BAPTISTA, Lucca (TU) def. PEARCE, John (BYU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6
4. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) def. PRITCHARD, Mitchell (TU) 7-5, 6-3
5. GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. CORKER, Louis (TU) 6-0, 6-2
6. KAMDEM, Boriss (TU) def. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4

Order of finish: (1, 5, 4, 2, 6, 3)

Follow Men’s Tennis on Social Media
Fans can keep up with the latest on Cougar tennis by following us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/byumenstennis), Twitter (@BYU_Mens_Tennis) and Instagram (@byumtennis).