No. 11 men’s tennis starts season strong with sweep of BYU
Junior Connor Hance missed all of the 2019 dual-match season with a foot injury, but clinched UCLA men’s tennis’ 7-0 win over BYU in the Bruins’ 2020 home opener. (Andy Bao/Daily Bruin)
By Andreas Papoutsis
Jan. 16, 2020 12:37 a.m.
The Bruins brought out the broomsticks in their season opener.
No. 11 UCLA men’s tennis (1-0) emerged victorious in a 7-0 sweep Wednesday over BYU (0-1) in the season opener at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Bruins have now started 22 consecutive seasons with a win.
UCLA began its day with a 6-1 doubles win on court No. 3 before junior Keegan Smith and sophomore Govind Nanda notched a 6-4 victory on court No. 1 to secure the Bruins’ first doubles point of the season and a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Senior Ben Goldberg earned the Bruins’ first singles point of the day, winning 6-2, 6-1 over BYU’s Jack Barnett. Goldberg’s win put the Bruins up 2-0 with five games in hand.
Smith found himself pitted against BYU’s top player Sean Hill, who recorded 19 singles wins last year. Smith fell to Hill in the first set 4-6 but regained momentum to secure the next two sets 6-3, 6-1. Smith’s win on court No. 1 put UCLA at the brink of a season-opening sweep with a 3-0 lead.
Junior Connor Hance, who missed all of the dual-match season last year because of a foot injury, secured the Bruins’ first win of this season by defeating BYU’s David Ball 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Despite clinching the sweep, the remaining three matches were played out.
Freshman Drew Baird earned his first collegiate regular-season win in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory against BYU’s Matheus Ferreira Leite. Wins from Nanda and sophomore Patrick Zahraj capped off the Bruins’ win, ending the match 7-0.
UCLA will now head to Thousand Oaks, California, to compete at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup on Friday at the Sherwood Country Club.
