Men's Tennis Meets Success in First Invitational Match

PROVO -- Starting off strong as invitational hosts, the No. 38 BYU men’s tennis team defeated UC Santa Barbara 4-1 Friday evening at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.

“I thought in this match we didn’t play our best at some positions, but we figured out how to get the win and that’s the most important thing,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “Santa Barbara is a good team. They beat us last year and we weren’t going to underestimate them. Now we need to regroup and come back ready for the next to matches tomorrow.”

Georgy Batrakov and Thomas Shubert showed up tough in doubles, snatching an 8-3 win against UCSB’s Mathieu Forget and Benjamin Recknagel. Spencer Smith, a Salt Lake City native, and Roman Warias followed close behind with an 8-4 win against Evan Jurgensen and Philip Therp on Court 3, giving BYU (12-4) the doubles point.

Smith quickly put up BYU’s first singles point, going 6-3, 6-3 against Taylor Chavez Goggin on Court 3. On Court 2, Batrakov soundly defeated Alex Konigsfeldt 6-1, 6-2. Evan Urbina pulled through on Court 1 with consecutive come-from-behind sets to seal Cougar victory.

UCSB’s only point came from Forget, who defeated freshman Patrick Kawka 6-2, 6-4.

The win was BYU’s eighth straight victory. The team remains undefeated on its home court.

Saturday, the Cougars play No. 48 UNC Wilmington at 9:30 a.m. at the indoor courts. William and Mary and UC Santa Barbara will play each other on the outdoor courts at 11 a.m., weather permitting, or immediately following BYU’s match. The final matches of the invitational will begin around 5 p.m.

BYU INVITATIONAL
No. 38 BYU vs. UC Santa Barbara
BYU-4     UCSB-1
Doubles
1. Urbina/Kawka (BYU) vs. Konigsfeldt/Chaves-Goggin (UCSB) 2-6 susp.
2. Shubert/Batrakov (BYU) def. Recknagel/Forget (UCSB) 8-3
3. Warias/Smith (BYU) def. Therp/Jurgensen (UCSB) 8-4
Order: 2, 3
Singles
1. Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4
2. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Alex Konigsfeldt (UCSB) 6-1, 6-2
3. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Chavez-Goggin (UCSB) 6-3, 6-3
4. Mathieu Forget (UCSB) def. No. 101 Patrick Kawka (BYU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Thomas Shubert (BYU) vs. Max Glenn (UCSB) susp.
6. Roman Warias (BYU) vs. Philip Therp (UCSB) susp.
Order: 3, 2, 4, 1
William and Mary vs. No. 48 UNC Wilmington
W&M-2     UNCW-4
UNCW-4     W&M-2
Doubles
1. Guthrie/Vidal (W&M) def. Cooprider/Sharma (UNCW) 8-5
2. Blank/Ziamtsou (UNCW) vs. Banks/Orre (W&M) 5-5 susp.
3. Whiteford/Andersson (W&M) def. Mol/Aita (UNCW) 8-5
Singles
1. Michaele Pereira (UNCW) def. Anton Andersson (W&M) 6-1, 6-3
2. Kinshuk Sharma (UNCW) def. Ben Guthrie (W&M) 6-1, 6-1
3. Chris Cooprider (UNCW) def. Jamie Whiteford (W&M) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7)
4. Sebastien Vidal (W&M) def. Kosta Blank (W&M) 7-6, 6-2
5. Rafael Aita (UNCW) def. Adrian Vodislav (W&M) 6-3, 6-1
6. Illia Ziamtsou (UNCW) vs. Ilja Orre (W&M) 2-6, 4-4 susp.
Order of finish: 2, 1, 4, 5, 3