No. 52 BYU travels to Denver

PROVO, Utah – The No. 52 BYU men’s tennis team looks to extend its win streak as it challenges Air Force and Denver Thursday and Friday, respectively, in Denver.

The Cougars (5-5) have won two consecutive matches after wins against Utah and Nevada last week. BYU topped Utah 5-2 while it routed Nevada, 7-0.

BYU has one ranked player in No. 50 Georgy Batrakov. The Russian senior plays at the No. 1 singles position for the Cougars. Batrakov is coming off a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 80 Wessim Derbel of Nevada.

Sophomore Patrick Kawka, who has won five consecutive matches, owns a 7-2 dual singles record, the best on the team. Junior Spencer Smith follows close behind at 7-3. Smith has the best overall record on the team at 20-5.

Playing at the No. 2 position, Smith and freshman Francis Sargeant are 6-2 in dual matches and 15-6 overall. The pair is on a five match winning streak.

Air Force (5-4) is coming off a 4-3 loss to Army. The Cougars are 25-3 in its all-time series against the Falcons. The last meeting between BYU and Air Force was in April 2011 when the Cougars swept the Falcons, 7-0.

In its last match, Denver (3-6) topped Arizona, 6-1. BYU is 8-3 against the Pioneers, all-time. The Cougars dominated in the last meeting, taking the match 7-0 over Denver.

Thursday’s match at Air Force is at 4 pm. The Cougars then challenge Denver at the Pinehurst Country Club Friday at 7 p.m.