SAN DIEGO — Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs fell in a tightly-contested round of 16 match at the ITA National Fall Championships to Ohio State’s No. 19-ranked duo of Robert Cash and JJ Tracy 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday night.
As the first Cougar doubles team to advance past the first round of the event since it moved outdoors in 2017, the juniors kept it close for the entirety of the contest, even holding a 5-4 first set advantage and 40-15 game score lead before later falling 7-5.
"Zach and Wally didn't just hold their own - they had three set points against arguably the best doubles team in the country, a team who just won the All-American title a few weeks ago," said BYU head men's tennis coach Zack Warren. "They've been working hard, are ambitious and capable of great things. They represented BYU in the Sweet 16 with the best doubles teams in the country. There's a lot to be proud of and a lot to build on."
Each team held serve for nearly the entirety of the first set. With the score knotted at three, Thayne led the Cougars to a perfect game, rocketing three serves that Ohio State failed to return as the tandem went up 4-3. Cash and Tracy responded to make it 4-4 before Fuchs also asserted authority on the serve, claiming the final two points off his serve. The game was punctuated by an ace down the center line to make it 5-4.
After Cash and Tracy tied the first set score at five, they notched the first break of the evening to go up 6-5 before taking the first set 7-5.
Ohio State achieved another break to go up 2-1 in the second set. The duo then held serve to take a 3-1 lead over Thayne and Fuchs. BYU responded, however, winning the next game. On the ensuing game, a critical winner down the line landed in Ohio State’s deep right corner of the court before a double fault cemented Thayne and Fuchs’ first break of the contest to even it up at 3-3. The Cougars then had two straight games of going up 30-0 and then losing the final four points. Down 5-3, BYU won another game before ultimately falling 6-4.
The loss concludes a successful fall campaign for Thayne and Fuchs, who finish with an 8-3 overall record. This included an appearance at the ITA All-American Championships and a doubles regional title after defeating Utah’s No. 55-ranked team in September.
Four Cougars will wind up fall play this weekend, competing at SMU’s Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge in Dallas, Texas. Doubles matches will begin Friday at 8:30 a.m. CDT.
Photo Credit - Air Force Athletics