HOUSTON - BYU men’s tennis strung together 15 wins across three days at this week’s Rice Fall Challenge, resulting in the team’s best performance thus far this season. An undefeated doubles session on day one was just the beginning, with the Cougars finding doubles and singles wins against a variety of opponents as the competition progressed.

"The Rice Fall Challenge was good preparation for our upcoming season. Mateo Vereau had a great week playing before extended family members from Peru. He not only won all his matches, but he also played at a level that will help us greatly throughout the season," said head coach Dave Porter. "Wally Thayne, Zach Fuchs and Dominik Jakovljevic also had excellent performances this week. We are looking forward to the upcoming season. Go Cougs."

Vereau's undefeated run included five wins (three singles, two doubles) the most on the team. His two doubles wins came with two different partners, the first of which marked Brigham Andrus’s official return from injury and first appearance this season.

Vereau’s second partner, Jakovljevic, had a successful weekend of his own, going 4-2 with a 2-1 record in both singles and doubles. After dropping his first singles match on Thursday, Jakovljevic rebounded with two-straight singles victories to carry a winning streak into the dual match portion of the season.

Thursday's Results

Friday's Results

Saturday's Results

Doubles

• Vereau/Jakovljevic def. Alonso/Muminovic (UTSA) 8-7
• Quesada Perez/Zavala (TAMUCC) def. Owen/Chen 8-5
• Pinho/Skelly (UTSA) def. Thayne/Fuchs 8-5

Singles

• Mateo Vereau def. Alex Stafford (SMU) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0
• Dominik Jakovljevic def. Blaine Hovenier (SMU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
• Zach Fuchs def. Avery Zavala (TAMUCC) 6-3, 6-1
• Alex Lin def. Nathan Schwartz (TAMUCC) 6-4, 6-4
• Liam Krall (SMU) def. Wally Thayne 6-7 (6), 4-6
• Tomas Quesada Perez (TAMUCC) def. Redd Owen 6-4, 6-3
• Ulysse Bertrand (TAMUCC) def. Brian Chen 6-0, 6-0

SMU’s Stafford was the only player to push Vereau to a third set in Houston, with Vereau just narrowly losing his streak after falling short in the set two tiebreaker. He responded by sweeping the third set, delivering an all-around perfect weekend for the fifth-year senior.

Jakovljevic also took over his match in the third set, going 6-0 as well to lock up his victory. The result also meant he helped the team improve to 4-1 against SMU, which finished last season ranked No. 22 nationally.

Zach Fuchs’s win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s Zavala put him at 2-1 in singles, the third Cougar to leave Rice with a winning singles record. While Redd Owen and Brian Chen lost their Saturday doubles match, the duo took home a 2-1 record together and improved to 4-3 in their freshmen seasons.

BYU has now concluded the fall invitational portion of the team’s schedule, with spring dual matches, including WCC play, to come in 2023. The schedule runs from January through April, with the full slate of matches to be announced in the coming months.

HOUSTON – Eight BYU men’s tennis players are in Texas for the Rice Fall Challenge, which will include a singles and doubles contest each day this Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 27-29. BYU and tournament hosts Rice will be joined by SMU, Texas A&M Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) and UTSA.

Schedule

Thursday, Oct. 27

3:00 p.m. CDT – Singles versus Rice

5:00 p.m. – Doubles versus SMU and UTSA

Friday, Oct. 28

10:00 a.m. – Doubles versus Rice and TAMUCC

11:00 a.m. – Singles versus UTSA and TAMUCC

Saturday, Oct. 29

10:00 a.m. – Doubles versus UTSA and TAMUCC

11:00 a.m. – Singles versus SMU and TAMUCC

Specific pairings and results will be announced on the team’s social media accounts as they are made available. There will not be any streaming options.

The Cougars

BYU’s doubles teams are Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs, Dominik Jakovljevic and Alex Lin, Mateo Vereau and Brigham Andrus, as well as Redd Owen and Brian Chen. The Cougars will also compete individually in singles.

Andrus will be making his first appearance since Feb. 19 after missing most of last season due to injury. Thayne will be the team’s No. 1 singles player and has won five of his last six singles matches this fall. Lin also brings a strong singles form to Texas, concluding last week’s Mountain Regional with a 2-1 record.

Thayne and Fuchs went 4-3 together in doubles last season. Vereau and Andrus last played doubles together during the 2020-21 season, going 2-2. Freshmen Owen and Chen are also 2-2 as a team after beginning their BYU careers in September. Jakovljevic and Lin will be marking their eighth career match together.

BYU last visited Texas in 2013, where the team participated in a tournament run by TAMUCC.

The Competition

Rice

The Owls are led by sophomore Haoyuan Huang, who is currently ranked No. 88 nationally in singles. Last year he was 13-3 in Rice’s No. 1 singles position.

SMU

Last season SMU earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament, finishing the season ranked 22nd in the nation. Twelve of the 15 players on the current Mustang roster were on that team, with junior Adam Neff and senior Pranav Kumar making up this year’s No. 22 doubles pairing nationally. Neff is also ranked No. 124 in singles.

TAMUCC

The Islanders just finished hosting their own tournament last week, where they won all three divisions after matches with UT Arlington and Lamar. TAMUCC’s seven-man roster has five upperclassmen.

UTSA

Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez won the first regional title in program history this month when they took home the doubles crown at the ITA Texas Regional Championship. The unranked pair upset three nationally ranked teams (Nos. 3, 13 and 24) during the competition.