No. 5 Pearce wins before rain delays affect tournament

LOS ANGELES – Rain delays kept several Cougars from finishing their matches but not before freshman tennis player John Pearce, who entered the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships as a No. 5 seed, won his first match Thursday, 6-0, 6-2, at UCLA’s campus.

Sophomores Francis Sargeant and Keaton Cullimore both had their matches interrupted by untimely rain. When his game was called, Sargeant was up one set against the No. 3 seed Mousheg Hovhannisyan. The two will finish their matches tomorrow.

“I thought John played a great match and was fortunate to get off the court before the rain,” head coach Brad Pearce said. “Francis [Sargeant] is playing great tennis against the No. 3 seed from Pepperdine and I’m excited to see him close out that match tomorrow.”

Pearce dominated his first match over Jakob Karnopp from San Diego, 6-0, 6-2.

In the qualifying singles round, freshman Scott Bohne lost to Concordia’s Christian Wickenhause, 6-2, 6-1.  Junior Travis Fillmore played a long match but couldn’t seal the victory against Kona Luu from UCSD, 7-6, 1-6, 10-7.

Nikki Rae, the third freshman on the team, put up a good fight but fell to Andrew Carlisle from San Diego, 7-6, 7-5. Rae then played in the qualifying back draw and defeated Rajeev Herekar from UCSD, 6-3, 6-2.

None of the doubles matches were played due to the rain. Play will resume Friday at 10 a.m. PST.

The tournament can be followed by visiting USTA’s website.