Cougars Finish Day One of HEB Invitational

CORPUS CHRISTI -- The first day of the HEB Invitational ended with one win and one loss for the No. 65 BYU men’s tennis team. The Cougars fell to No. 35 Texas Tech, 4-0, to begin the tournament but upset No. 50 DePaul, 4-2, in the backdraw.

“We’re a good team; we had to play well and fight hard,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “There were a lot of challenges but our guys toughed it out.”

In the first match of the day, the Cougars faced a talented Texas Tech team. The No. 35 Red Raiders earned the doubles point with victories on courts one and three. Sophomores Thomas Shubert and Evan Urbina fought hard against the No. 10 pair in the country but fell 8-4 at the No. 1 position.

With the two wins, play was suspended on court two where Daniel Hwang and Cassidy Mears led 6-2. The pair currently owns a five-match winning streak and is undefeated this season.

“We need to figure out our doubles situation. We’re not getting the doubles points as often as we’d like to,” Pearce said.

The Red Raiders kept rolling in singles with No. 45 Raony Carvalho defeating freshman Roman Warias on court one. Texas Tech victories at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions gave them the win and the remaining matches went unfinished.

“Texas Tech is a good team,” Pearce said. “We had some opportunities and didn’t convert.”

BYU only had hours to rest before facing DePaul. No doubles matches were played against the Blue Demons.

Shubert started things out for the Cougars, finishing his 6-3, 6-3 match to give BYU the first point. Mears and freshman Travis Fillmore also recorded wins to put the team within one point of victory.

Urbina lost his first set 6-2 at the No. 1 position before coming back to win the second and third and secure the upset for BYU.

“We’re still not playing our best tennis, but we’re beating good teams,” Pearce said. “We’re excited about the win.”

The Cougars start play Saturday at 9 a.m. against either No. 73 Western Michigan or No. 53 Middle Tennessee.

Match Results 
#65 Brigham Young- 0
#35 Texas Tech- 4
Singles 
1. #45Raony Carvalho (TTU) def. Roman Warias (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Christian Rojmar (TTU) vs. Thomas Shubert (BYU) unfinished
4. Gonzalo Escobar (TTU) vs. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) unfinished
5. Michael Breler (TTU) vs. Cassidy Mears (BYU) unfinished
6. David Gonzalez (TTU) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles 
1. #10Raony Carvalho/Christian Rojmar (TTU) def. Evan Urbina/Thomas Shubert (BYU) 8-4
2. Cassidy Mears/Daniel Hwang (BYU) def. Michael Breler/Sinisa Markovic (TTU) 6-4
3. Gonzalo Escobar/David Gonzalez (TTU) def. A.J. Young/Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 8-6
#65 Brigham Young- 4
#50 DePaul- 2
Singles 
1. Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Austin Doerner (DEPAUL) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Jos Moncada (DEPAUL) def. Roman Warias (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Ben Hartman (DEPAUL) 6-3, 6-3
4. Alasdair Graetz (DEPAUL) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
5. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Bartosz Jozwiak (DEPAUL) 7-5, 6-2
6. Travis Fillmore (BYU) def. Matija Palinic (DEPAUL) 6-4, 3-2
*No doubles matches were played