WOMEN'S GOLF: BYU sophomore Kelsey Vines has been selected the Mountain West Conference Women's Golfer of the Month for February.
Vines opened the spring season with her second consecutive Top-7 finish in the 64-golfer field at The Gold Rush by Golfsmith on Feb. 14-15 in Seal Beach, Calif. The sophomore carded a 54-hole total of 12-over 228 (80-76-72) on the par 72, 6,170-yard Old Ranch Golf Course to pace the Cougars. As a team, BYU came in fourth place at 85-over 949 (324-318-307).
The product of St. George, Utah, closed out the month by tying for eighth place at the Bruin Wave Invitational in Santa Clarita, Calif, Feb. 28-March 2. Vines posted a 3-over 219 (72-76-71) on the par 72, 6,282 yard Robinson Ranch Golf Course. Her third-round 1-under 71 ties the sophomore's lowest round of the year. Vines' card helped BYU to an eighth-place team finish (51-over 915) among a 15-team field that included No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 Arizona.
In 12 rounds played this season, Vines has recorded fours rounds at par or better, including two rounds of 71. The sophomore ranks seventh in the Mountain West in stroke average at 75.50. This marks the first MWC Golfer of the Month award for Vines.
WOMEN'S TENNIS: The BYU women's tennis team took another tough loss Saturday to UC Irvine, falling 5-2 on the road despite winning the doubles point at Irvine, Calif.
BYU's Callie Craig and Megan Price took down Hannah Holladay and Becka Kwan on Court 1 with a 8-4 win, followed by an 8-5 win on Court 3 from Elle Carney and Aubrey Paul, taking the doubles point and putting the Cougars (4-7) ahead 1-0.
Elizaveta Ezhova scored the only singles point for BYU with a 7-6, 7-6 win on Court 5 against the Anteaters' Brooke Schwever. The Cougars fell in straight sets on the other five courts.
MEN'S TENNIS: Starting off strong in the H.E.B. Tournament of Champions with a sweep of DePaul, the BYU men's tennis team came out on top in a 4-0 duel with Maryland on Friday to advance to the tournament final at Corpus Christi, Texas.
"We had two good, solid wins against ranked teams," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "They were both tough teams. The guys showed great effort physically and mentally and a tremendous amount of heart. They did a great job of closing out matches and not giving any up. I'm really pleased with that. It tells me every guy is refusing to quit."
Spencer Smith of Salt Lake City defeated Maryland's Sergio Wyss 6-0, 6-2. The next BYU point on the board came from Thomas Shubert, who took out Tommy Laine 6-1, 6-4.
On Court 2, Georgy Batrakov faced John Collins for his own 6-1, 6-4 victory and freshman Patrick Kawka sealed the Cougars' win with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Andy Magee.
BYU (8-4) sneaked by DePaul in doubles, with Smith and Warias downing Ben Hartman and Filip Dzanko 9-8 on Court 3 after Shubert and Batrakov's 8-3 win on Court 2 against George Chanturia and Matija Palinic. Urbina and Kawka fell in a close match on Court 1 to Sven Kasper and Bartosz Jozwiak (8-6).
Team captain Urbina faced Kasper again in singles action, this time stealing a straight-set victory on Court 1 (6-0, 6-4) to take the match 4-0 for BYU. Kawka scored BYU's first singles point with his 6-1, 6-1 win against Jozwiak, followed by a win on Court 2 from Batrakov against Palinic (6-4, 6-2).
In both matchups, the other singles matches were suspended after BYU took its fourth point.
Increasing its winning streak to five matches, the BYU men's tennis team swept through the H.E.B. Tournament of Champions to grab the title in Saturday's final match against host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
"We haven't given up a single point in this tournament," BYU coach Brad Pearce said. "It just shows every player is coming out to fight. We were playing under tough conditions, but we finished strong when other teams struggled. We were finalists in this tournament last year, so it's great coming home with the trophy."
The Cougars (9-4) took the doubles point with wins on courts 1 and 2. Evan Urbina and Patrick Kawka teamed up to defeat Laurent Montoisy and Gergo Weidinger 8-5, and Georgy Batrakov and Thomas Shubert defeated Nathan Robinson and Robert Raguz 8-5. Spencer Smith and Michael Eraso fell to James Langford and Aurelian Tave 7-6.
Batrakov recorded BYU's first singles win on Court 2 against Langford 6-2, 6-1. Smith followed up with a win against Raguz on Court 3 (6-4, 6-4). Kawka took the BYU victory with a 6-4, 7-6 win against Tave.
The win is the Cougars' fifth-straight sweep, recording 26 straight points. The team defeated DePaul and Maryland to reach the finals.
BYU is on the road again Friday for a match against Boise State.