PROVO, Utah — The opening round of the 2024 Big 12 Men’s Tennis Championship gets underway on Friday, April 19 as eighth-seeded BYU men’s tennis readies for an opening round rematch with top seed and No. 5 Texas at the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The winner will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Match Information
Start Time: Friday, April 19 at 2 p.m. MDT
Venue: Greenwood Tennis Center
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2024 Big 12 Men's Tennis Championship Schedule (All Times MDT)
Friday, April 19
Match 1 - No. 2 Oklahoma vs No. 7 Texas Tech - 11 a.m.
Match 2 - No. 3 TCU vs. No. 6 Baylor - 11 a.m.
Match 3 - No. 4 UCF vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State - 2 p.m.
Match 4 - No. 1 Texas vs. No. 8 BYU - 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 20
Match 5 - Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 - 2 p.m.
Match 6 - Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 21
Championship Match - 12 p.m. If BYU advances to the final, the match will be played on Monday, April 22.
BYU Notes
The Cougars finished the regular season with an 11-10 record, including 0-7 in Big 12 play despite several ranked doubles and singles wins throughout conference competition. Six of the seven Big 12 matches were against schools ranked in the nation’s top 30.
Last week, BYU fell 4-1 to Texas Tech as the Cougar point came on the doubles side with a victory from Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs over Texas Tech’s No. 40 duo while TJ Wells and Tygen Goldammer secured a win at the No. 3 slot.
Thayne and Fuchs jumped into the ITA Collegiate Tennis rankings at No. 71 on Tuesday. The pair hold a team-leading 10-5 doubles record, including a 3-3 Big 12 mark and two ranked wins. They have claimed two straight victories, having also defeated TCU’s top doubles team.
Each BYU doubles team has a winning record—Jack Barnett and Redd Owen are 11-7 while Wells and Goldammer are 8-7.
Wally Thayne’s 14 singles victories at No. 2 singles leads the Cougars as the junior is 14-6 overall and 3-4 in Big 12 play with two ranked wins. Redd Owen is 12-7 at the No. 4 slot while team captain Jack Barnett is 10-7 at No. 1 singles. Barnett racked up a top-50 ranked win against Baylor and went toe-to-toe with the nation’s top singles player Eliot Spizzirri (Texas) before falling in a second set tiebreaker. Barnett will have another chance to face Spizzirri on Friday. Zach Fuchs is 10-8.
Freshmen Tygen Goldammer and David Duong have gained significant experience at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles spots. Goldammer is 9-8 and Duong stands at 7-4.
A win over Texas would advance the Cougars to face the winner of Friday’s matchup between No. 4 seed UCF and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State.
Texas Notes
-2023-24 record: 19-3, 7-0 Big 12
-Last week, the Longhorns defeated No. 37 Baylor 7-0 to claim the outright Big 12 regular season Big 12 title with an unbeaten 7-0 conference record.
-The program boasts victories over No. 1 Ohio State (5-2 on March 10) and No. 2 TCU (5-0 on March 24) this season and has totaled 12 ranked wins in the 2023-24 campaign.
-Head coach Bruce Berque is in his sixth season as head coach in Austin, with a 115-29 record. Berque led the Longhorns to their first team National Championship in 2019 and heads the only program in the nation to make the NCAA Final Four in four of the past five years.
-After a Big 12 regular season title last year, Texas advanced to the Final Four to earn a No. 3 final ranking.
-Returners from last year include 2023 ITA National Player of the Year/Big 12 Player of the Year Eliot Spizzirri and ITA All-Americans Cleeve Harper and Micah Braswell in addition to Spizzirri. All five of the Longhorns’ 2023 All-Big 12 individual selections are returners.
-Nationally-Ranked Athletes: Singles - Eliot Spizzirri (No. 1), Micah Braswell (No. 3), Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (No. 39), Jonah Braswell (No. 59), Pierre-Yves Bailly (No. 86). Doubles - Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (No. 18), Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (No. 22).
Series Information
-Tied 3-3
-Last Meeting: Then No. 4 Texas defeated the Cougars 4-0 in Provo on March 28.