PROVO, Utah – The University of Denver men's tennis team (9-5, 0-0 Summit) claimed a 4-1 win at BYU to start its two-match weekend at Power-4 opponents on Friday evening.
 
DU went ahead 3-0 overall before BYU got on the board with what would be the Cougars' only point of the night. The Pioneers then closed out the victory on the No. 4 singles court.
 
Doubles:
All three doubles matched proved to be competitive and featured at least 10 games played in each of them. Senior Daniel Sancho Arbizu and freshman Theo Coats continued to roll for DU at the No. 2 spot, getting Denver halfway to the doubles point with their team-best 10^th win together this season with a 6-4 victory. Graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox and junior Raffaello Papajcik also earned a 6-4 win to clinch the point for DU, marking their first win as doubles partners after not playing together in nearly a month.
 
The No. 1 match seemed headed for a tiebreak but was abandoned with senior Rikuto Yamaguchi and junior Ryoma Mishiro sitting up, 6-5.
 
Singles:
Sancho Arbizu got Denver halfway to the dual win, losing only six games for the second match in a row. His 6-2 6-4 win at No. 1 singles became his 11^th singles victory in 2025 so far, all coming in straight sets.
 
For the first time since February 2, Papajcik returned to Denver's singles field and got off to a hot start with a 6-1 first set. He closed out the match in two sets with 6-4 second set, giving him  fourth singles win in dual match play and putting DU within one point of the team win.
 
BYU stayed alive with three-set win at the No. 3 singles match, but DU freshman Samuel Rovai answered with his own win three sets to clinch the dual for Denver. After dropping the opening frame in a tiebreak, he responded with a 6-4 second set to force the final set, where he earned a critical break late to secure it, 7-5.
 
Denver was up a set on Nos. 5 and 6 singles as well, though both matches were abandoned after Rovai secured DU's fourth point. Mishiro won a battle for the first-set tiebreak, winning it with an 11-9 scoreline, and won the opening game of the second set. Robb-Wilcox had claimed his opening set, 6-3, and was up 3-0 in the second.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team continues its weekend with a second Big 12 Conference opponent when the No. 70-ranked Pioneers play at No. 56-ranked Utah on Sunday, March 2.
 
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