COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains is in the books, with BYU men’s tennis securing five more wins on Saturday. Four Cougars competed in the tournament hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy this weekend, finishing day two with a winning record (5-4).

“I am pleased with Saturday’s outcome. On Friday we failed to adjust and did not compete the way we are capable of competing. There is no substitute for match play, and for these four players, I am confident that this experience will greatly assist in preparing them for the ITA Mountain Region Tournament in New Mexico in a couple of weeks,” head coach Dave Porter said.

For singles, Dominik Jakovljevic (0-3) played in the lightning draw. Redd Owen (1-2) was in the raptor draw, while Brian Chen (2-1) and Alex Lin (2-1) were in the eagle draw. Jakovljevic and Lin (1-2) partnered for doubles play, as did Chen and Owen (1-2).

Day One:

All four Cougars were in action early. Lin recorded the team's first win of the 2022-23 season with his straight-set singles victory over New Mexico State's Roko Stipetic. Freshmen Chen and Owen made their BYU debuts, with Owen securing his first career victory with a straight-set singles match of his own.

Jakovljevic represented BYU in the competition's top singles flight, where he dropped close matches to Utah's Bruno Krenn and Weber State's Sebastian Buxman. All four Cougars were also able to open their doubles seasons on Friday.

Singles Results

Round One

• Dylan Applegate (Utah) def. Brian Chen (BYU) 6-1, 6-0
• Bruno Krenn (Utah) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 7-6 (5), 6-2
• No. 4 Alex Lin (BYU) bye to next round
• No. 1 Anish Sriniketh (Denver) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-3, 6-1

 Round Two

• Brian Chen (BYU) bye to next round
• No. 3 Sebastian Buxman (Weber State) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 7-5, 6-3
• No. 4 Alex Lin (BYU) def. Roko Stipetic (New Mexico State) 6-3, 6-4
• Redd Owen (BYU) def. Kyle Garner (Air Force) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles Results

Round One

• Eskic/Papajcik (Denver) def. Jakovljevic/Lin (BYU) 6-3
• Vroman/Waldman (Air Force) def. Owen/Chen (BYU) 7-5

Round Two

• Jakovljevic/Lin (BYU) bye to next round
• Relik/Huppin (Montana State) def. Owen/Chen (BYU) 6-2

Day Two:

Chen had a strong Saturday, winning his two singles matches to record his first career victories. He remained undefeated on the day after an afternoon doubles win with teammate Redd Owen.

Lin was the fourth seed in his draw, and he ended the competition by upsetting the bracket’s top-seed, Denver’s Raffaello Papajcik. The duo battled through multiple tiebreakers, with Lin ultimately victorious in a 10-point set three duel.

Lin partnered with Jakovljevic earlier in the day to down in-state foes Applegate and Spina from Utah in one of their two doubles matches Saturday. The victory was also the pair’s first career victory together.

Singles

Round Three

• Brian Chen (BYU) def. Henrik Lynum (New Mexico State) 6-4, 6-4
• Mitch Johnson (Denver) def. No. 4 Alex Lin (BYU) 6-0, 6-1
• Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) bye to next round
• Redd Owen (BYU) bye to next round

Round Four

• Brian Chen (BYU) def. Alex Asenov (Idaho) 6-1, 5-7, 10-6
• Arjun Kersten (Air Force) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-4, 7-5
• No. 4 Alex Lin (BYU) def. No. 1 Raffaello Papajcik (Denver) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-7
• Corey Clarke (New Mexico State) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles

Round Three

• Jakovljevic/Lin (BYU) def. Applegate/Spina (Utah) 6-2
• Owen/Chen (BYU) bye to next round

Round Four

• Masala/Asenov (Idaho) def. Jakovljevic/Lin (BYU) 6-3
• Owen/Chen (BYU) def. Kurata/Ramesh (Idaho) 6-2

The Cougars return to action next Saturday when Jack Barnett and Wally Thayne travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the ITA All-American Championships.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - Four Cougars are at the U.S. Air Force Academy this weekend to open the 2022-23 BYU men’s tennis season. The ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains features singles and doubles draws for players from nine schools.

BYU’s Brian Chen, Dominik Jakovljevic, Alex Lin and Redd Owen will compete in singles on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23-24. Jakovljevic and Lin will team up for open doubles play on those same days, as will Owen and Chen.

Tournament Notes

Schedule and Results

On both Friday and Saturday, doubles play will be at 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. MDT, while singles play gets underway at 9:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Pairings, start times and results for the Cougars will be announced on the team’s social media accounts as they are made available. BYU results will also be added to a tournament updates page, while every result from the cup will be posted on the ITA website.

Singles and doubles champions will be determined based on the individual winners of single-elimination brackets, as opposed to a collective school score. Consolation matches will also be held.

The tournament concludes on Sunday, Sept. 25. The Cougars will only compete in the first two days of the competition because of BYU’s longstanding policy of not competing on Sunday due to religious observance.

The Cougars

Brian Chen

The freshman from Changhua, Taiwan will be making his BYU debut this weekend. Chen was the top-ranked player in Taiwan for his age group when he was 14 before focusing on academics throughout high school.

Dominik Jakovljevic

A junior from Bellevue, Wash., Jakovljevic has 24 career singles appearances. He has also made seven career doubles appearances, three of which were with Lin last season.

Alex Lin

Lin is also a junior, joining the Cougars in 2020 as a five-star recruit. The Gold River, Cali. native has 13 singles and 10 doubles appearances for BYU.

Redd Owen

Owen will join Chen in making his BYU debut in Colorado. The former five-star recruit at Brighton High School in Sandy, Utah recently returned from serving a full-time, two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in West Virginia and Benin.

Coaching Staff

Head coach Dave Porter is in his third season at BYU. He previously spent 33 years at BYU–Hawaii (1984-2017), where he won 11 national championships.

Assistant coach Rong Ma joined the staff before the 2021-22 season. He played for Coach Porter at BYU–Hawaii and also spent five years as an assistant for his alma mater.

The Competition

BYU and tournament hosts Air Force will be joined by Boise State, Denver, Idaho, Montana State, New Mexico State, Utah and Weber State. Matches will be played on the USAFA Intercollegiate Outdoor Tennis Courts.

Fans wishing to attend in-person can do so free of charge. Free parking can be accessed through the Academy’s north gate, which will require a photo ID for entrance.

Singles matches are best-of-three sets, with a full third set played in the main draw. A 10-point tiebreaker will be in effect for consolation matches. Doubles matches will consist of one first-to-six games set.