No. 27 BYU men's tennis tops Denver 5-2

PROVO, Utah – No. 27 BYU men’s tennis beats the University of Denver 5-2 Saturday at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts to remain undefeated at home.  

"This was a tough weekend," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "This was a good team and I think everyone here saw that. Sean was down match point, we lost at No. 2 singles, we were in a position where we could've dropped one and two singles. There was a dog fight at No. 5 singles, that could've been an entirely different match. Fortunately, we had guys step up. We had different guys step up the whole year and I'm so grateful that that's continuing."

With wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles, the Cougars (10-2) earned the doubles point over the Pioneers (5-3) to put them up 1-0 heading into singles play.

Matthew Pearce and Mateo Vereau Melendez finished first at No. 3 doubles with a 6-4 win over Daniel Krulig and Eric Morris. No. 23 doubles-duo Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu topped James Davis and Matt Summers 6-3 to clinch the doubles point.

Sam Tullis had a quick finish in singles with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Pedro Fernandez Del Valle in No. 4 singles.

Denver rallied back and earned their first point of the match at No. 2 singles when Hsu fell 2-6, 5-7 to Mattia Ros.

BYU went on to win three-straight matches. Vereau finished at No. 3 singles with a 6-2, 7-6 straight set win over James Davis and Pearce followed by handily defeating Krulig 6-1, 6-2.

At No. 1 singles, after being down 3-5 in set two, Hill saved two match points and rallied back to win four straight games to take set two 7-5. Hill went on to defeat Summers 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Denver took the last singles match when Ben Gajardo fell to Ignatius Castelino 0-6, 6-2, 6-7 at No. 4 singles.

The Cougars remain at home next week hosting Old Dominion Saturday, March 2, at 5:30 p.m. MST at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. Results will be updated following the match on the men's tennis schedule page.

MATCH RESULTS

BYU 5, Denver 2

DOUBLES RESULTS

1. Sean Hill/Jeffrey Hsu (BYU) def. James Davis/Matt Summers (DEN) 6-3
2. Sam Tullis/Ben Gajardo (BYU) vs. Mattia Ros/Pedro F. Del Valle (DEN) 4-5, unfinished
3. Mateo Vereau/Matthew Pearce (BYU) def. Daniel Krulig/Eric Morris (DEN) 6-4

Order of finish: (3, 1)

SINGLES RESULTS

1. Sean Hill (BYU) def. Matt Summers (DEN) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
2. Mattia Ros (DEN) def. Jeffrey Hsu (BYU) 6-2, 7-5
3. Mateo Vereau (BYU) def. James Davis (DEN) 6-2, 7-6
4. Sam Tullis (BYU) def. Pedro F. Del Valle (DEN) 6-3, 6-2
5. Ignatius Castelino (DEN) def. Ben Gajardo (BYU) 6-0, 2-6, 7-6
6. Matthew Pearce (BYU) def. Daniel Krulig (DEN) 6-1, 6-2

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

Additional Coach Pearce Quotes

"We had two tough wins and we're grateful that we came out on top. I'm pleased that we have guys that just always fight regardless of the score. Mateo was down and bounced back. I thought Matthew played a great performance to clinch. I could not say enough good things about what these guys are doing week in and week out, it's very impressive. It's a privilege to be their coach."

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