PROVO, Utah — The BYU men's tennis team is set to open its 2020-2021 season against Grand Canyon on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 11am MST in the Indoor Tennis Courts. It will be the team's first match since senior Sean Hill and sophomore Jack Barnett competed in the ITA Texas Regional Championship on Oct. 24, 2020.
"After practicing all fall and the last couple of weeks, we're thrilled to be able to start competing," BYU head coach Dave Porter said. "Grand Canyon is a good program, they won the WAC two years ago. Last year, of course, nobody finished the season, but their coach is a good friend of mine. He's an excellent coach and I know he's gonna bring a team that's ready and prepared to play. We're really looking forward to Saturday's match."
The Cougars are scheduled to play 21 matches this season, 13 of them at home and eight of them on the road. They will face each West Coast Conference team once, but there will be no WCC Tournament, as previously announced last year. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 20-29, 2021.
BYU lost one senior in David Ball last season, but returns two graduate seniors in Hill and Sam Tullis (12-8 in singles, 11-8 in doubles). Hill (18-5 in singles, 11-6 in doubles) was recently ranked 98th in the Oracle/ITA Division 1 Men's Preseason National Rankings. The Cougars also return six players from last year's roster and welcome four freshman to the team: Brigham Andrus, Dominik Jakovljevic, Zac Larke, and Alex Lin.
Until further notice, only family members are allowed to attend home matches. Family members will need to be on a pre-existing list and provide photo ID in order to attend.