SAN DIEGO - BYU men’s tennis fell 4-3 in its season-opener Thursday at San Diego State. The Aztecs won the doubles point followed by clinching the winning singles point in a three-set match.
“We dropped a 4-3 battle on the road today,” said BYU head coach Zack Warren. “Great fight, we competed well at every position, splitting the singles matches and coming up just short in doubles. We play at UC San Diego on Saturday and we know they’re good. We’ll have to be ready to go.”
Jack Barnett, Zach Fuchs and Redd Owen won their singles matches for the Cougars. Barnett and partner Owen also earned a doubles victory.
Doubles
1. Alexander Mandma/Robin Parts (SDSU) def. No. 35 Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-5
2. Jack Barnett/Redd Owen (BYU) def. Johannes Seeman/Chikaya Sato (SDSU) 7-5
3. Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice/Andre Saleh (SDSU) def. TJ Wells/Tygen Goldammer (BYU) 6-4
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Each doubles match was decided by two games. The Aztecs took the first win at No. 3 doubles in both Wells and Goldammer’s collegiate dual match debuts. The freshman duo kept it close before San Diego State did just enough to keep the Cougars at bay.
At the No. 2 spot, Barnett and Owen notched BYU’s lone doubles win. The doubles point then came down to the No. 1 match, which saw No. 35 Thayne and Fuchs drop a back-and-forth battle 7-5 as San Diego State claimed the team doubles point.
Singles
1. Jack Barnett (BYU) def. Johannes Seeman (SDSU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Chikaya Sato (SDSU) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-4, 7-5
3. Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Bora Sengul (SDSU) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
4. Redd Owen (BYU) def. Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Robin Parts (SDSU) def. Tygen Goldammer (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
6. Alexander Mandma (SDSU) def. TJ Wells (BYU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3
Barnett put the Cougars on the board in quick order at No. 1 singles, winning in straight sets. The senior surged ahead in the first set to win 6-3 and then cruised to a 6-1 second set victory. At the No. 1 singles spot, Barnett picked up right where he left off in 2022-23 for the Cougars.
Owen then claimed a straight-set victory of his own at No. 4 singles, taking down San Diego State’s Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice 6-2, 6-4 to join doubles teammate Barnett as winners in both doubles and singles Thursday.
The Aztecs evened the overall match score at 2-2 with a win at No. 2 singles as Thayne suffered a tight 6-4, 7-5 defeat. Next, Goldammer fell 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 5 slot. The freshman led 5-3 in the first set with multiple set points before the close loss.
The dual match was then decided at No. 6 singles, where TJ Wells began with a commanding 6-2 first set win before running out of gas in 6-1, 6-2 defeats in sets two and three. With the Aztec win secured, Zach Fuchs and Bora Sengul wrapped up a see-saw battle with Fuchs on top, winning a third-set tiebreaker 7-5 to win 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5).
BYU will remain in the San Diego area, with the next match slated for Saturday at 11:00 a.m. PST at UC San Diego. A live stream or live scoring will not be available.