BYU men's tennis is set to open the 2023 fall season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22-23 at the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – BYU men's tennis is set to open the 2023 fall season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22-23 at the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Six Cougars will compete in both singles and doubles play – Wally Thayne, Jack Barnett, Brian Chen, Zach Fuchs, Redd Owen and TJ Wells. For doubles, Thayne will team up with Fuchs, Barnett with Owen and Chen with Wells.
Tournament Start and Format
On both Friday and Saturday, doubles play begins at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. MDT.
Singles play begins Friday at 9:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., with Saturday starts scheduled for 9:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.
Singles matches are best-of-three sets, with a full third set played in the main draw. A 10-point tiebreaker will be in effect for consolation matches. Doubles matches will consist of one first-to-six games set.
The Cougars
Ranked No. 103 in singles earlier this month by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the junior enters the fall season ranked in the preseason for the first time in his career. The last Cougar to enter individual match play with a national ranking came in 2020-21 with Sean Hill at No. 98.
Thayne's 2022-23 campaign included the highest ranked victory in program history last March when he defeated Stanford's No. 5 Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-3. He also took down No. 69 Iiro Vasa en route to a BYU upset of No. 27 San Diego last spring. The junior also racked up All-WCC Second Team Doubles and Honorable Mention Singles.
The Noosa, Queensland (Australia) native racked up All-WCC Second Team Doubles and Honorable Mention Singles last year in addition to an at-large nomination for the ITA All-American Championships last fall.
He also earned WCC Doubles Team of the Week Feb. 21 with Mateo Vereau, ending the season playing in the No. 1 spot for singles and doubles.
As a sophomore last year, Fuchs registered a team-high singles winning percentage, including a win over junior Wimbledon champion No. 59 Samir Banerjee of Stanford. The Los Altos, California native also earned WCC Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 7 with teammate Wally Thayne.
Entering his sophomore season, Owen appeared in 33 matches in 2022-23, including all 22 of the team's dual matches. He played as high as No. 4 singles while also claiming WCC Doubles Team of the Week honors March 21 with teammate Brigham Andrus.
The incoming freshman and four-star recruit recently returned from a two-year, full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bangkok, Thailand. The Highland, Utah native will kick off his first collegiate action this weekend.
As a true freshman from Changhua, Taiwan last season, Chen appeared in 12 matches.
New Head Coach
First-year head coach Zack Warren takes the reigns having spent the previous nine years at Cal as Associate Head Coach of the women's team. There, he was a three-time regional assistant coach of the year (2022, 2021, 2015) and led the golden bears to a program-first, national indoor title in 2016.
Warren returns to BYU having served as an assistant on former Cougar head coach Brad Pearce’s staff from 2009-12 and as an athlete from 2004-07.
The Competition
BYU will be joined by nine other schools, including tournament host Air Force, Boise State, Denver, Montana, Montana State, New Mexico State, UNLV, Utah State and Weber State. Matches will be played on the USAFA Intercollegiate Outdoor Tennis Courts.
Tournament admission is free, while parking is located in the east and south lots by the Field House.