No. 52 BYU drops match to No. 9 Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 52 BYU men's tennis team dropped its match to No. 9 Stanford, 5-2, Friday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

The Cougars (3-5) came out strong, winning the doubles point against the Cardinal (6-2).

John Morrissey and Ryan Thacher of Stanford topped senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka on Court 1, 8-1. Freshman Keaton Cullimore and senior Michael Eraso were quick to tie the doubles score with an 8-4 victory over Jamin Ball and Robert Stineman on Court 3.

With the doubles point on the line, freshman Francis Sargeant and senior Spencer Smith pulled through an 8-6 victory over Matt Kandath and Denis Lin, 8-6, to earn BYU the doubles point. The Cougar duo is 13-6 overall.

Although he finished his match last, Kawka, ranked No. 106 nationally in singles, upset No. 75 Kandath at the No. 2 singles position, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6(3), to earn BYU its lone singles victory of the day.

No. 37 Thacher topped No. 45 Batrakov on Court 1, 6-1, 6-3.

Playing at the No. 4 position, No. 67 Cullimore narrowly fell to Morrissey, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (5).

BYU is back in action Feb. 15 when it takes on in-state rival Utah at the Eccles Tennis Center at 5 p.m.