No. 68 BYU drops a tough 4-3 match to No. 66 UNC-Wilmington at USTA National Campus

ORLANDO, Fla. — No. 68 BYU men's tennis played a hard-fought match but fell 4-3 to No. 66 UNC-Wilmington at the USTA National Campus Monday.

"We fought down to the last man," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "We have a lot to be proud of between our two matches. We'll learn from the lessons that were taught at every position in both matches and move forward from here looking through the windshield rather than the rearview mirror."

BYU (3-1) came out strong in doubles to claim the point over UNC-Wilmington (1-1) with wins in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Duo Matthew Pearce and Mateo Vereau earned a 6-2 win over Agustin Savarino and Daniel Groom. Teammates Sam Tullis and Ben Gajardo defeated Bruno Caula and Michael Morphy 6-3 to move the Cougars 1-0 into singles play.

The No. 1 doubles match between BYU's Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu and UNC-Wilmington's Michael Copeland and Cole Groetsch was suspended at 4-3.

Moving into singles, Hill finish first in No. 1 singles, handily defeating Agustin Savarino 6-0, 6-2.

The Hawks fought back and earned their first point as Vereau fell to Austin Hussey 6-1, 6-4 in No. 3 singles. In the No. 6 spot, Pearce lost to Davide Innocenti 6-3, 6-3, tying the dual-match at 2-2.

UNC-Wilmington earned its third point and a 3-2 advantage as Copeland defeated Tullis 6-4, 6-2 in No. 4 singles.

The Cougars battled back to tie the match at 3-3 when Gajardo topped Morphy 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in the No. 5 singles spot.

The match victory was decided in the No. 2 singles spot. Hsu and Groom battled back and forth until Groom clinched the win with 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 win.

BYU battles No. 1 Wake Forest Friday, Jan. 25, at 5 p.m. EDT as it competes in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The next day the Cougars play the winner of the match between No. 26 Memphis/No. 37 Old Dominion. That match will be played at either 2 p.m. or 5 p.m. EDT depending on who wins.

Match Results

BYU 3, UNCW 4

Doubles Results

HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) vs. COPELAND, Michael/GROETSCH, Cole (NCW) 4-3 (DNF)
TULLIS, Sam/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. CAULA, Bruno/MORPHY, Michael (NCW) 6-3
VEREAU, Mateo/PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) def. SAVARINO, Agustin/GROOM, Daniel (NCW) 6-2

Order of finish: (3, 2)

Singles Results

HILL, Sean (BYU) def. SAVARINO, Agustin (NCW) 6-0, 6-2
GROOM, Daniel (NCW) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 5-7, 6-0, 6-4
HUSSEY, Austin (NCW) def. VEREAU, Mateo (BYU 6-1, 6-4
COPELAND, Michael (NCW) def. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. MORPHY, Michael (NCW) 6-0, 2-6, 6-3
INNOCENTI, Davide (NCW) def. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) 6-3, 6-3

Order of finish: (1, 3, 6, 4, 5, 2)

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