LAS VEGAS – Day 1 of the ITA Mountain Regionals is in the books for the Cougars in Las Vegas, Nevada. Day 1 featured two rounds of play in the singles qualifying bracket, as well as the first round of doubles play in the main draw.
“The Cougs had a really solid day,” said Head Coach Zack Warren. “Tomorrow we’ll have eight players competing in the main draw of singles and four doubles teams competing in the round of 32. Advancing everyone to either the round of 32 of doubles or the main draw of singles is huge.”
Every BYU player is advancing in either the doubles or the singles draw.
In the doubles draw BYU is advancing four separate duos through wins or byes. This is tied for the most in the tournament among the schools. Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs as well as Redd Owen and Adam Chodur advanced in their doubles pairing with a bye in the first round.
The other six Cougars competed in the first round of doubles play. Alex Edmonston and David Duong matched up against Northern Arizona University in the first round. Edmonston and Duong have not yet played together this season and were able to pick up their first win in their first opportunity. They won the first to eight games set 8-3 and moved on to face an Idaho State paring in the second round.
Otto Schreiner and Hardy Owen were the other team to pick up a win today. This was also their first time pairing up as a doubles team. Their set was won as they prevailed 8-5 against a University of Nevada pairing. They will move to the next round and face Boise State there.
The final BYU doubles team was TJ Wells and Tygen Goldammer. The Cougars faced a tough opponent from Idaho State and were knocked out of the doubles draw 8-5. Both players will continue play in the singles bracket.
On the singles side of things, BYU is advancing eight of its ten players. This is the second most among teams competing in the tournament. Six of the players, Thayne, Fuchs, Redd Owen, Goldammer, Hardy Owen and Chodur were idle today as they were placed in the main draw.
Four Cougars were put into the qualifying draw needing to advance to the second round to qualify for the main draw. The players in the qualifying were, Wells, Duong, Schreiner and Edmonston.
Wells had a bye in the first round and matched up against Utah’s Charles Frey in the second. In their matchup, Wells took a commanding lead winning the first set 6-0. Frey was not easy to beat but Wells hung tough in their set and won it 7-5.
Duong also had a bye in the first round and found himself facing Montana State’s Andre Stewart. After a tough first set, Duong found himself down a set. He was not ready to give up as he fought back and won the next set convincingly 6-1. Going into the third set tied at a set a piece the third was anything but easy. Both players fought hard and Duong was able to fight for the win beating Stewart 6-4 in the third.
Edmonston matched up with Takumi Katsuda from Northern Arizona. The match was tough for both sides but Edmonston couldn’t prevail. He lost in two sets 6-4 6-4. Edmonston will continue his doubles play with Duong.
Schreiner was the final Cougar in the qualifiers and the only one in the group to play two matches. He faced Jakub Volesky from Northern Arizona. Schreiner was able to control the match and decisively win both sets as he won 6-2 6-3. He then was matched up against New Mexico State’s Tobias Wallin. He fought hard in the match but Wallin proved to be too much. He lost the match in two sets 6-4 6-2.
After a busy day of play, the Cougars have five days ahead of them as they look to make deep runs in the tournament.
“We’ll have to continue to compete at a high level as the tournament progresses,” said coach Warren.
The Cougars will continue to play tomorrow morning in both the singles and doubles draw.