PROVO, Utah — On Friday night, No. 63 BYU men's tennis fell 4–2 to visiting No. 66 Texas Tech Red Raiders at the Outdoor Courts.
With the loss, the Cougars move to 13–5 on the season and 1–3 in Big 12 Conference play.
Doubles proved how evenly matched the two programs were, as all three courts were tied 5–5. On Court 2, TJ Wells and Tygen Goldammer trailed 4–1 but battled back to even the score alongside Courts 1 and 3. The Red Raiders then won three straight points to take an all-around 6–5 lead and eventually secured the doubles point with wins on Court 1 and 3 in what was BYU’s tightest doubles showing of the season.
In singles, the match began to shift in BYU’s favor, as the Cougars took the opening set on four of six courts. Goldammer and Hardy Owen each earned decisive 6–2 wins, while freshman Yubel Ubri and David Duong each took their sets 6–3.
On Court 5, Caden Hasler fell to a comeback effort, dropping his match 7–6 in a first-set tiebreaker.
After falling behind 2–0, BYU got on the board with Owen, who kept his undefeated singles season alive by earning his eighth win with another 6–2 victory.
Now down 3–1 after Texas Tech picked up a straight-set win on Court 5, the Cougars needed wins on the three remaining courts—all of which in a third set—to earn a win.
Goldammer rebounded after dropping his second set 6–2 to win the third 6–3, picking up his team-leading 14th singles victory.
With the match at 3–2 in favor of Texas Tech, Ubri was rallying with a 5–3 lead in the third set before play was paused. During the stoppage, the Red Raiders clinched the match with a 6–0 third-set win on Court 3, sealing the 4–2 result.
The Cougars will be back on the road next week to face a pair of top-10 programs, traveling to Texas to take on the TCU Horned Frogs on Thursday, April 2, before heading to Waco to face the Baylor Bears Saturday evening.