PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s tennis will embark on a two-match road trip this week in its first Big 12 road matches, facing No. 3 TCU on Thursday and No. 24 UCF on Saturday.
The battle with TCU will renew an old Mountain West Conference rivalry while Saturday’s match at UCF will mark the first all-time meeting between the schools.
Match Information
TCU
-Start Time: Thursday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m. MDT
-Venue: Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center
-Live Stats
-PlaySight Live Stream
-ESPN+ Cracked Racquets Stream
UCF
-Start Time: Saturday, April 6 at 4 p.m. MDT
-Venue: USTA National Campus
-Live Stats
-PlaySight Live Stream
-ESPN+ Cracked Racquets Stream
Despite two team losses last week in Provo, Jack Barnett and Wally Thayne tallied two ranked singles wins against No. 27 Baylor. Barnett registered an impressive 6-2, 6-2 takedown of No. 50 Tadeas Paroulek while Thayne fought back from a first set loss to defeat No. 74 Zsombor Velcz 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
At No. 1 singles, Barnett earned a spot at No. 123 in the ITA’s latest rankings released Tuesday. The senior is 9-6 on the year. Thayne is 13-4 at No. 2 singles, including a 2-2 record in Big 12 play as the junior also defeated Oklahoma State’s No. 70 Isaac Becroft March 21. Against No. 4 Texas, Thayne and Zach Fuchs scored a doubles win (6-2) over No. 53 Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab. The duo holds an 8-5 mark together this season.
BYU (11-7, 0-4 Big 12) has kept things close in conference play, falling 4-2 in three of four matches with several narrow tiebreaker losses. Thayne and Fuchs dropped a 6-7 (6) tiebreaker to Baylor’s No. 40 tandem last Saturday as Fuchs also nearly pulled off a singles victory over No. 88 Deven Badenhorst before falling in a third set tiebreaker 3-6, 6-2, 6-7 (6). Barnett got close to a second set win over Texas’s No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri Thursday with set point opportunities before an eventual 5-7 tiebreaker loss, while Tygen Goldammer and TJ Wells almost cemented the deciding doubles point against the Longhorns in a 6-7 (5) tiebreaker defeat.
In singles play, Fuchs is 10-5 this year as sophomore Redd Owen holds a 12-5 mark. Freshmen Goldammer and David Duong are 9-6 and 7-3 at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively.
No. 3 TCU Notes
-2023-24 record: 16-3, 2-2 Big 12
-The Horned Frogs are fresh off a 4-0 victory over No. 26 Oklahoma State on Saturday, March 30. The program has victories over 11 ranked schools this season, including seven top-15 wins.
-Head coach David Roditi is in his 14th season at the helm in Fort Worth, with a 266-102 record (.723). Roditi led the Horned Frogs to back-to-back ITA Indoor National Championships in 2022 and 2023 and has guided the program to nine consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearances.
-Last season, TCU won the Big 12 tournament title en route to a Final Four appearance and No. 4 final ranking.
-The Horned Frogs’ experienced roster has seven returners, including 2023 All-Big 12 Second Team Singles honoree Jack Pinnington and three-time All-American Jake Fearnley. Both are currently ranked among the top-10 singles athletes in the nation.
-Nationally-Ranked Athletes: Singles - Jack Pinnington (No. 7), Jake Fearnley (No. 9), Pedro Vives (No. 54), Lui Maxted (No. 58), Sebastian Gorzny (No. 70). Doubles - Sebastian Gorzny/Pedro Vives (No. 3), Duncan Chan/Lui Maxted (No. 70).
Series Information
-Series Record: TCU leads 10-4
-Last Meeting: BYU won 4-3 on April 10, 2010 in Fort Worth, Texas.
No. 24 UCF Notes
-2023-24 record: 16-3, 2-2 Big 12
-The Knights most recently fell 0-4 to No. 22 Oklahoma on Saturday, March 30, but have registered two Big 12 wins over No. 27 Baylor (4-0) and No. 26 Oklahoma State (4-3). UCF has five ranked wins this year.
-Head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess is in his first season after taking over the program in August of 2023. Tuesday's No. 24 ranking marks UCF's highest of the season.
-Last season, UCF finished 11-12 and 5-1 in conference play during its last season as a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Knights most recently made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021, advancing to the second round.
-UCF returns last year’s AAC Freshman of the Year and All-Conference Team Singles recipient Yassine Dlimi in addition to All-Conference Team Singles/Doubles honoree Lleyton Cronge.
Series Information
-Series Record: 0-0, Saturday marks the first all-time meeting