PROVO, Utah - BYU men’s tennis fell 4-0 to No. 4 Texas Thursday night at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, despite Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs earning a 6-2 doubles win over the Longhorns’ No. 53-ranked duo of Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab.
“Credit to Texas, they’re the best team in the country at the moment,” said head coach Zack Warren. “They play high-level tennis and our team went toe to toe with them. Big shoutout to our crowd as the energy throughout the night was incredible. It’s truly an unmatched atmosphere in college tennis. We’re excited for another opportunity to play at home on Saturday against Baylor and to honor our seniors Jack Barnett and Kobe Tran.”
With the loss, BYU drops to 11-6 on the year and 0-3 in Big 12 play. Texas improves to 15-3 in a month where the program has knocked off then-No. 1 Ohio State March 10 and No. 2 TCU March 24.
Doubles
1. Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. No. 53 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (Texas) 6-2
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Eshan Talluri (Texas) def. Jack Barnett/Redd Owen (BYU) 6-4
3. Lucas Brown/Cleeve Harper (Texas) def. Tygen Goldammer/TJ Wells (BYU) 7-6 (5)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Thayne and Fuchs took a 3-1 advantage and then held serve on court one to make it 4-1. The pair of juniors almost earned another break on deuce point before Woldeab drilled a shot down the middle with both at the net to make it 4-2. Thayne then held serve, making it 5-2. The duo racked up another break to cement a 6-2 win, securing it on deuce point as Spizziri hit the ball into the net on a backhand volley attempt.
Jack Barnett and Redd Owen fell on court two as the team doubles score moved to 1-1. An early break from the Longhorns proved difficult to overcome. Down 3-5, Owen hit a sharp-angled volley to his right for a putaway on Texas’ serve return to help make it 4-5 before eventually falling 4-6.
Attention turned to court three for TJ Wells and Tygen Goldammer’s deciding match. With the score at 3-3, the teams continued to hold serve, including a crucial set point at 4-5 (40-40) with Wells serving as he won the point by approaching for an overhead slam. Goldammer’s strong serve helped set up a tiebreaker, falling behind 0-5 before the duo won five of six points. Wells’ return then dropped just past the baseline as Texas won 7-5 to claim the dual match doubles point.
Singles
1. No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri (Texas) def. Jack Barnett (BYU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
2. No. 41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (Texas) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Zach Fuchs (BYU) vs. Pierre-Yves Bailly (Texas) 4-6, 7-5, unfinished
4. Siem Woldeab (Texas) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Tygen Goldammer (BYU) vs. No. 67 Jonah Braswell (Texas) 1-3, unfinished
6. David Duong (BYU) vs. Lucas Brown (Texas) 1-0, unfinished
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1
Texas went up 2-0 in the dual match count on court four as Owen lost 6-1, 6-2 to Siem Woldeab. Woldeab took control early in set one, and Owen kept things close to start off set two before falling 6-2.
Thayne took on No. 41 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at No. 2 singles. Thayne went up 3-2 in the first set before falling behind 3-4. He then earned a break on deuce point to make it 4-4 before Bailly went on to win 6-4. In set two, an early break from Texas made it 3-1 before taking the set 6-4.
Barnett took on top-ranked singles player in the nation Eliot Spizzirri on court one. Set one began with consecutive breaks before Spizzirri tallied another. After dropping the first set 2-6, Barnett registered a break to take a 4-2 second set lead in a game where he lost no points. The senior then nearly won the set after leading 5-4 and 40-15, but Spizziri held on to tie things at 5-5 and later force a tiebreaker. Barnett rocketed a forehand winner down the line to go up 5-4 before Spizziri won the tiebreaker 7-5.
Zach Fuchs’ match went unfinished as the third set was set to begin. The junior remained even with Texas’ Pierre-Yves Bailly throughout set one before Bailly got a break on deuce point to win 6-4. Fuchs remained resilient in the second set, winning 7-5.
With Texas totaling four dual match points, the remaining matches went unfinished. Goldammer trailed Jonah Braswell 1-3 with David Duong up 1-0 on Lucas Brown.
Up Next
The Cougars will take on No. 27 Baylor in their final home match of the season at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts on Saturday, March 30 at 5 p.m. MDT. Follow BYU men’s tennis on Instagram and X for updates on if the match will be moved indoors due to weather.