Cougars Sweep Loyola Marymount

LOS -- For the third time this year, the No. 31 BYU men’s tennis team recovered from a tough loss with a solid win. After dropping a close match to UCSB, the Cougars came back and blanked Loyola Marymount 7-0 Saturday in California.

“The team showed a lot of character bouncing back from a tough loss,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “It’s a really positive characteristic of this team to come back with solid wins after losses.”

BYU switched up its pairs again in the match against the Lions. The new combinations proved successful as the Cougars swept doubles play to get the 1-0 advantage going into singles.

“We learn something every match about our players and where they are most effective,” Pearce said.

Pearce and the squad also made some changes in the singles lineup. Georgy Batrakov was the first player off the court for BYU, recording a win over Borja Malet at the No. 3 position. Daniel Hwang’s victory on court six put the Cougars one point away from their 15th win of the season.

Freshman Spencer Smith clinched the match, defeating his LMU challenger 6-4, 6-2. BYU picked up two more wins at the Nos. 2 and 4 positions. In his first match this year playing No. 1 for the Cougars, junior Evan Urbina completed the sweep in a three-set victory over Ivan Lopez.

“We made some little adjustments and we’re getting close in terms of lineup and doubles combinations,” Pearce said. “We want to get it right so everything will be ready for conference play.”

Conference play begins next week for BYU when it travels to play Air Force Thursday and New Mexico Saturday.

Results
No. 31 BYU-7
Loyola Marymount-0
Doubles
1. Cassidy Mears/Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Ivan Lopez/Otto Sauer (LMU) 8-3
2. Spencer Smith/Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Borja Malet/Renzo Maggi (LMU) 8-5
3. Evan Urbina/Daniel Hwang (BYU) def. Geza Bazula/Johan Berhof (LMU) 8-6
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Ivan Lopez (LMU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
2. Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Otto Sauer (LMU) 6-0, 7-6
3. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Borja Malet (LMU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Geza Bazula (LMU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Renzo Maggi (LMU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Daniel Hwang (BYU) def. Johan Berhof (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 6, 5, 2, 4, 1