PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis fought hard, eventually falling 4-1 to No. 23 Pepperdine at home on Friday at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.
“I am so proud of our team today,” said head coach Dave Porter. “They played one of the best teams in the nation and had a chance to win right up until the end. Even with injured and players out, it came down to our No. 3, 5 and 6 singles matches. We could have won the match today, but we fought hard and played well. We are going to do our best to heal up in 48 hours and be ready for a good Loyola Marymount team on Saturday.”
Coming out strong in doubles play, Tennyson Whiting and Wally Thayne earned the win at No. 1 doubles 6-4, over Eero Vasa and No. 15 Daniel De Jong.
Tying their set at 5-5, Alex Lin and Dominik Jakovljevic battled for the win at No. 3 doubles. Eventually falling 7-5 to No. 60 Tim Zeitvogel and Enrique Luque Rico of Pepperdine, the doubles point was left up to No. 2 doubles.
In another close match at No. 2, Matheus Leite and Jack Barnett took Corrado Summaria and No. 95 Pietro Fellin to 6-6, eventually taking the 7-5 win to secure the doubles point for the Cougars.
Pepperdine fought back in singles play winning at both No. 1 and 2 singles to put the Waves up by 1. Losing the first set at No. 4 singles, Alex Lin fought back but eventually fell 6-4 to Eero Vasa to give Pepperdine their third point. With the Waves leading 3-1, Jakovljevic took a 6-4 loss in his first set against No. 84 Andrew Rogers at No. 3 singles. Jakovljevic did not give up, however, and took the second set in a 8-6 tiebreak win.
With a chance to come from behind, BYU players Schreiner and Whiting began play at No. 5 and 6 singles. While falling 6-3 in the first set, Schreiner came back to take the second set win in a 7-5 tiebreak over Luque Rico.
Whiting also had a close match against Pepperdine’s Summaria, eventually earning the first set win 7-6 with a 7-5 tiebreak score. Still battling in a third set at No. 3 singles, Jakovljevic and Rogers fought to the end. BYU’s Jakovljevic eventually fell to Rogers 7-5, to secure Pepperdine’s 4-1 win over the Cougars.
BYU will host Loyola Marymount on Saturday in their last home match of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. MDT at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.
Pepperdine 4, Brigham Young University 1
Singles Competition
- Daniel De Jonge (PEP) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-3, 6-4
- Tim Zeitvogel (PEP) def. Matheus Leite (BYU) 6-3, 6-1
- Andrew Rogers (PEP) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5
- Eero Vasa (PEP) def. Alex Lin (BYU) 6-1, 6-4
- Otto Schreiner (BYU) vs. Enrique Luque Rico (PEP) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
- Tennyson Whiting (BYU) vs. Corrado Summaria (PEP) 7-6 (7-5), 0-1
Doubles Competition
- Wally Thayne and Tennyson Whiting (BYU) def. Daniel De Jonge and Eero Vasa (PEP) 6-4
- Matheus Leite and Jack Barnett (BYU) def. Corrado Summaria and Pietro Fellin (PEP) 7-6 (7-4)
- Tim Zeitvogel and Enrique Luque Rico (PEP) def. Alex Lin and Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 7-5
Match Notes
Order of finish: Singles -- 2 1 4 3 ; Doubles -- 1 3 2