EUGENE, Ore. – Brigham Andrus and Redd Owen earned another doubles victory for BYU men’s tennis Saturday afternoon but the Cougars were ultimately defeated 4-0 by No. 56 Oregon.
BYU (3-9, 1-0 WCC) nearly won the doubles point at the No. 2 court with Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs but the Ducks were victorious in a tiebreaker to earn their first point of the match. Oregon went on to win three singles matches on courts 6, 1 and 3 to clinch the team victory.
"Oregon has a solid team and played well today," said BYU head coach Dave Porter. "We’re improving with every match and look forward to WCC matches next week at Gonzaga and Portland."
Doubles
- No. 8 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) def. Jack Barnett/Mateo Vereau (BYU) 6-1
- Ivailo Keremedchiev/Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) def. Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-6 (5)
- Brigham Andrus/Redd Owen (BYU) def. Ray Lo/Avi Shugar (ORE) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Oregon got on the board first at No. 1 doubles, where the eighth-best team in the country took the final five games to win 6-1. Barnett and Vereau had a strong start with the match tied 1-all but fell behind from there.
BYU equalized the race for the doubles point at No. 3 doubles. Andrus and Owen started with an early 4-1 lead with the Oregon pair fighting back to only trail 5-4. The comeback attempt would ultimately be thwarted as the Cougars took the last game to win 6-4.
No. 2 doubles was also a tight contest, with the Ducks going ahead 4-2 before Thayne and Fuchs forced a 4-4 tie. The two sides could not be separated as the match progressed, necessitating a first to seven tiebreaker. There Keremedchiev and Klov-Nilsson got the narrow advantage they needed, winning 7-5 to give Oregon the doubles point.
Singles
- Joshua Charlton (ORE) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
- Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) vs. Jack Barnett (BYU) 6-3, 4-5, unf.
- Ivailo Keremedchiev (ORE) vs. Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-6 (5), 4-3, unf.
- Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
- Vlad Breazu (ORE) vs. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-2, 5-2, unf.
- Luke Vandecasteele (ORE) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 6, 1, 3
The Ducks expanded their lead at No. 6 singles. Andrus was initially tied 2-all in the first set before losing the next four games as Luke Vandecasteele won 6-2. The second set saw Andrus stay within a one break difference but fall short and lose 6-3.
Thayne suffered a quick defeat in set one at No. 1 singles, 6-2 but nearly forced a third set with his play in set two. Neither side was able to pull ahead in the second, necessitating a tiebreaker to determine the set. Thayne kept that battle close as well but ultimately fell by a narrow 7-5 margin.
Oregon won the dual match at No. 4 singles. Jakovljevic kept the first set close, only losing 6-4, but Klov-Nilsson took a comfortable lead in the second to win 6-2.
The Ducks had advantages at the remaining three singles matches, which went unfinished. Barnett was turning his match at the No. 2 spot around, however, leading 5-4 in set two and set to serve when the interruption came. He previously lost set one 6-3.
Fuchs also had a close match at No. 3 singles, recovering from a 3-0 deficit in set one to force a 6-all tie. Keremedchiev won the ensuing tiebreaker 7-5, with set two officially at 4-3 in Oregon’s favor. The match was called before Fuchs had a chance to continue keeping pace with Keremedchiev.
No. 5 singles saw Breazu win four-straight games in both sets to lead Owen 6-2, 5-2.
Next weekend the Cougars will visit the final two stops on their eight-match road trip. They face Gonzaga on Friday, March 24, at 3:00 p.m. PDT and Portland on Saturday, March 25, at 5:00 p.m. PDT.