LUBBOCK, Texas — BYU men’s tennis fell 4-1 to Texas Tech in the regular season finale at the McLeod Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars won the doubles point, helped by a ranked win for Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs over the No. 40 duo in the country.
Thayne and Fuchs are now 10-5 on the year in doubles and 3-3 in Big 12 play, with all three conference wins over ranked opponents.
"We came out and played a fantastic doubles point today," said head coach Zack Warren. "TJ and Tygen got us started and Wally and Zach kept the momentum going at the top spot, taking out a ranked and highly experienced team. Zach and Wally are putting together a great season. Once they got their feet wet in conference play, they’ve been tough to beat. They’ve won three out of their last four Big 12 conference matches at the one position."
Doubles
1. Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. No. 40 Piotr Pawlak/Sebastian Abboud (TTU) 7-6 (8)
2. Redd Collier/Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) def. Jack Barnett/Redd Owen (BYU) 7-5
3. TJ Wells/Tygen Goldammer (BYU) def. Olle Wallin/Niksa Arsic (TTU) 6-4
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Goldammer and Wells registered a break to go up 2-1 on court three. With Goldammer serving, the pair won two straight to hold serve as a long rally ended on a shot returned long. The two freshmen earned another break to seize a 4-1 advantage before Texas Tech cut it to 5-4. With Wells serving, Goldammer hit a volley to win 6-4.
No. 2 doubles saw several breaks throughout. Consecutive breaks for each team put Barnett and Owen behind 2-3. The duo won the next two games before the Red Raiders countered with a break to tie things up at 4-4. Up 40-30, Barnett and Owen won the point to break back. Despite a 5-4 lead and serving, Texas Tech rallied back to win 7-5.
Fuchs and Thayne’s takedown of No. 40 Piotr Pawlak and Sebastian Abboud remained close to the end. With the score at 2-2, the pair of juniors held steady with Fuchs serving. Each team held serve throughout, including Thayne’s service game at 5-5 where they held Texas Tech scoreless, ending on a point with all four at the net. In the tiebreaker, neither side went ahead by more than one point until the final 10-8 score. At 8-8, Fuchs hit a backhand approach winner to set up a double fault clincher.
Singles
1. No. 49 Olle Wallin (TTU) vs. Jack Barnett (BYU) 7-6 (3), 3-3 (unfinished)
2. Reed Collier (TTU) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) def. Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
4. Niksa Arsic (TTU) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Piotr Pawlak (TTU) def. Tygen Goldammer (BYU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Sebastian Abboud (TTU) vs. David Duong (BYU) 7-6 (4), 2-2 (unfinished)
Order of finish: 2, 5, 4, 3
"Texas Tech leveled up in singles and played a great match," Warren said. "The conditions were very hot and Texas Tech handled them really well. It’s something we’ll have to continue to work on and prepare for going forward. I’m proud of the team. It's a great group of guys who are always looking for ways to get better and to represent BYU at the highest level."
At No. 2 singles, Thayne and Reed Collier started off tied at 2-2. Collier stayed consistent at the baseline, hitting several winners on his way to three straight wins and a 5-2 advantage. Thayne won the next game before falling 6-3. Collier went on to win 6-2 in set two.
Texas Tech then went up 2-1 in the dual match score with a win in straight sets on court five. Goldammer trailed 2-3 to Pawlak and held serve to keep things close at 3-4 before losing 3-6. Pawlak remained in control in the second set to take the match 6-2.
At the No. 4 slot, Owen trailed 0-3 early before falling 3-6. The sophomore split the first two games of set two, but then dropped three as the score was 1-4. A game of consistent rallies helped trim the deficit to 2-4 before Arsic won two straight for the straight sets victory.
The Red Raiders’ clinching point came on court four. Fuchs started strong, earning a 5-2 advantage before opponent Lorenzo Esquici stormed back to take the set 7-5. Set two went back-and-forth with the score at 4-4 when Esquici got a break and then held serve to win.
Barnett trailed 2-3 at No. 1 singles with Olle Wallin serving. On deuce point, the senior kept the point alive with a consistent rally as Wallin hit the ball long. Barnett then dropped two straight before winning on two more deuce points to tie it up at 5-5. He then served four straight aces to go up 6-5 before a tiebreaker later ended in a 7-3 defeat. The match went unfinished with Wallin up 3-2 in the second set.
David Duong’s match at No. 6 singles seesawed in the first set, with Duong ahead one game and then being tied up. The resulting in a tiebreaker saw Duong go up 4-3 before he fell 4-7. Set two went unfinished at 2-2.
Up Next
BYU now turns its attention to the Big 12 Tournament next week in Stillwater, Oklahoma at the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center. The quarterfinal round begins Friday, April 19 as BYU will face top-seeded No. 4 Texas at 2 p.m. MDT.