No. 3 seed BYU falls to No. 6 seed Santa Clara in WCC Tournament

CLAREMONT, Calif. – No. 3 seed BYU fell 4-3 to No. 6 seed Santa Clara Thursday at the Biszantz Tennis Center in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament.

"I'm so proud of this team," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "We accomplished a lot of goals this season. Our doubles play has been off the charts fantastic, winning 22 out of 23 doubles points. We fought at every singles position today and had opportunities but came up short. We'll learn from today and work on improving over the summer to be even better next year."

The Cougars (17-6, 6-3) came out strong to start their match before the Broncos (16-7, 5-4) fought back to earn the victory.

BYU took the early momentum by claiming the doubles point. Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu clinched the point at No. 1 doubles by defeating Andrew Gu and Robert Seby 6-3. Sam Tullis and Ben Gajardo topped Arthur Nehaus and Connor Garnett in a quick 6-1 match at No. 2 doubles while Matthew Pearce and Mateo Vereau Melendez fell 6-3 at No. 3 doubles to Kamran Khan and Vasileios Iliopoulos.

Up 1-0 going into singles play, Hill claimed the second point for BYU when he defeated his opponent Gu 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.

Santa Clara’s Seby battled back and grabbed a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pearce at No. 5 singles. Hsu gained momentum from a close tiebreaker win in his first set to best Jesus Barajas 7-6, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.

With the Cougars up 3-1, the Broncos came back to win three consecutive sets to win the dual-match 4-3.

Tullis put up a battle at No. 4 singles, but he fell to Iliopoulos 7-6, 6-2. David Ball was defeated by Santiago Hinojosa 7-5, 6-2 at No. 6 singles and Vereau lost at No. 3 singles to Garnett, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

BYU concluded it’s 2018-19 season at 17-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play while four players earned All-WCC honors.

#48 BYU 3, Santa Clara 4

DOUBLES RESULTS

1. Sean Hill/Jeffrey Hsu (BYU) def. Andrew Gu/Robert Seby (SCU) 6-3
2. Sam Tullis/Ben Gajardo (BYU) def. Arthur Neuhaus/Connor Garnett (SCU) 6-1
3. Kamran Khan/Vasileios Iliopoulos (SCU) def. Mateo Vereau Melendez/Matthew Pearce (BYU) 6-3

Order of finish: (1, 3, 2)

SINGLES RESULTS

1. Sean Hill (BYU) def. Andrew Gu (SCU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Jeffrey Hsu (BYU) def. Jesus Barajas (SCU) 7-6, 6-1
3. Connor Garnett (SCU) def. Mateo Vereau Melendez (BYU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
4. Vasileios Iliopoulos (SCU) def. Sam Tullis (BYU) 7-6, 6-2
5. Rob Seby (SCU) def. Matthew Pearce (BYU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Santiago Hinojosa (SCU) def. David Ball (BYU) 7-5, 6-2

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

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