Team Falls to TCU at MWC Champs

LAS VEGAS (Apr. 30, 2010) No. 35 BYU, the top seed in the MWC Men’s Tennis Championships, fell in semifinal action 4-2 to TCU, Friday.

BYU freshman Spencer Smith put the Cougars on the scoreboard with a straight sets victory over Soren Goritzka 6-4, 6-3 at the number five singles spot after TCU had taken the doubles point with victories at number one and three singles.

The Horned Frogs would get a 3-1 advantage in singles play with wins at number one and number three.

In number two singles Evan Urbina defeated TCU’s Zach Nichols in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to bring the Cougars within one 3-2, but that would be as close as they would get.

After losing the first set 6-4, BYU’s number three singles player Georgy Batrakov took the second set over Marius Cerstea 7-5, but could not come back in the third.

Senior Cassidy Mears dropped the first set at the number four singles position but came back to win the second 7-5 and was up 2-1 in the third when TCU sealed the victory at the number six position.

The Cougars won the MWC regular season title going undefeated 6-0 and have compiled a 21-6 overall record.

BYU now awaits a possible invitation to compete in the 2010 NCAA Championships. The team and individual pairings will be announced on Tues., May 4.

Results:

No. 1 Seed BYU-2

No. 4 Seed TCU-4

Doubles: (order of finish 3, 1)

1.No.37 Christopher Price/Emanual Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert/Cassidy Mears (BYU) 8-4

2.Georgy Batrakov/Daniel Hwang (BYU) v. Soren Goritzka/Cameron Nash (TCU) DNF

3.Zach Nichols/Paul Chappell, (TCU) def. Ricardo Campos/Evan Urbina (BYU) 8-5

Singles: (order of finish 5, 1, 3, 2, 6)

1.Emanuel Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1

2.Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Zach Nichols (TCU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)

3. Marius Cirstea (TCU) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1

4. Cassidy Mears (BYU) v. Christopher Price (TCU) DNF

5.Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Soren Goritzka (TCU) 6-4, 6-3

6. Paul Chappell (TCU) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU 6-4, 6-4