WACO, Texas – Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs fell to Texas in a three-set match Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the NCAA Individual Doubles tournament 6-3 4-6 (8-10).
Thayne and Fuchs were the first doubles team to represent BYU at the Individual Championships in 20 years.
“Having a pair of BYU players represent our program at the most important individual tournament in college tennis was a big milestone,” Head Coach Zack Warren said. “We’re grateful to everyone, who traveled here and those back home sending us good luck messages. We’re excited to see you all in January.”
In the first set, the Cougars got off to a great start with an ace of a second serve from Fuchs. This was indicative of how the match would continue as neither team could break with much success.
“It was a high-level match against Texas today, it was intense from the very first point,” Warren said. “In the end, it was only separated by two points in a 10-8 super tiebreaker.”
Both teams were only broken once in the match. BYU struck first earning its break at 4-3 in the first set. This stretched Thayne and Fuchs's lead to two games. In the ensuing game, they capitalized and won the set 6-3.
In the second set, it was much of the same. Long points and success for both teams in their service games. At times, both teams had chances to break but the serving was always able to defend. It wasn’t until the Cougars were down 4-5 in the second that the Longhorns were able to break on a deuce point after a close game.
This break forced the match into a third-set super tiebreak. The teams began the tiebreak trading points back and forth. They each earned mini breaks early so the tiebreaker was even through 6 points. After the switch in sides at six BYU began to pick up some momentum and earned another mini break as they gained a lead of 7-5 at the next switch in sides.
In Texas’s next service opportunity, the Cougars capitalized and earned a lead of 8-5 with Thayne serving. The Longhorns were able to turn it around from there and would win the last five points to clinch the match 6-3 4-6 (8-10).
“Zach and Wally have been playing great tennis throughout the fall and earned their way into the National Championships and I couldn’t be more proud,” Warren added. “I know they’re disappointed with the result, but they’re tough and resilient and they’ll bounce back even better.”
This tournament was the last for BYU in this fall season. The Cougars now look forward to dual-match play that begins in January.