The UMKC men’s tennis team split a pair of matches in Utah this weekend, falling 7-0 to BYU on Friday, before pulling out a 4-3 victory over Weber State on Saturday.
The ‘Roos (3-1) look to be very formidable in doubles play, taking the Cougars (6-2) to the brink on Friday. They dropped a narrow 7-5 set at No. 1, but came back with a 7-6 (9-7) tiebreaker win at the No. 3 position from Conner Edwards and newcomer Amaury Navette, who played his first dual action of the season due to the absence of Vinh Pham. The Cougars stole the doubles points off a second tiebreaker though, 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 2 spot.
UMKC didn’t fare as well in singles play, but still battled, as sophomore Uldis Gaismins took his opponent to three sets before eventually falling.
On Saturday, the ‘Roos took out Weber State (1-4) in a tight dual, 4-3. UMKC got the all-important doubles point by sweeping all three matches to go into singles action up 1-0.
In that round, UMKC faltered in a pair of three-set matches at No. 1 and No. 2, but pulled out a pair of straight set wins at No. 5 and No. 6 from Edwards and Navette. With WSU taking a two-set win at the No. 4 position, UMKC had to finish it off at No. 3. Mike Psarros did just that, taking a 6-3 third set win and clinch the victory for the ‘Roos.
UMKC will go to Des Moines, Iowa next weekend for three matches in a cluster hosted by Drake.
Brigham Young 7, UMKC 0
Singles competition
1. MONROE, Shane (BYU-M) def. Airam Castellano (UMKC) 6-4, 6-2
2. BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU-M) def. Andrey Smirnov (UMKC) 6-4, 7-6
3. BALL, David (BYU-M) def. Mike Psarros (UMKC) 6-1, 6-2
4. SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU-M) def. Uldis Gaismins (UMKC) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
5. CANALES, Juan (BYU-M) def. Conner Edwards (UMKC) 7-6 (7-4)
6. CARRAZEDO, Aidan (BYU-M) def. Amaury Navette (UMKC) 6-0
Doubles competition
1. PFISTER, Robin/BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU-M) def. Mike Psarros/Airam Castellano (UMKC) 7-5
2. BALL, David/SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU-M) def. Andrey Smirnov/Uldis Gaismins (UMKC) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Conner Edwards/Amaury Navette (UMKC) def. CARRAZEDO, Aidan/CANALES, Juan (BYU-M) 7-6 (9-7)
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1); Singles (3,1,2,4,6,5)
UMKC 4, Weber State 3
Singles
1. Stefan Cooper (WSU) def. Airam Castellano (UMKC) 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3
2. Todd Fought (WSU) def. Andrey Smirnov (UMKC) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
3. Mike Psarros (UMKC) def. Shao Po-Yim (WSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
4. Landon Barlow (WSU) def. Uldis Gaismins (UMKC) 6-2, 6-3
5. Conner Edwards (UMKC) def. Sanjay Guswami (WSU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Amary Navette (UMKC) def. Houten Chen (WSU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1. Airam Castellano/Mike Psarros (UMKC) def. Cooper/Guswami (WSU) 6-3
2. Uldis Gaismins/Andrey Smirnov (UMKC) def. Fought/Chen (WSU) 6-3
3. Amary Navette/Conner Edwards (UMKC) def. Barlow/Hansel (WSU) 6-4