Cougars defeat Wildcats during in-state battle

OGDEN, Utah — The BYU Cougars came out on top in an in-state tennis battle against the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday, winning by a score of 6-1. 

MATCH RESULTS

The Cougars earned the doubles point beginning with a 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles as Brigham Andrus and Matheus Leite dominated their Wildcat opponents.  At No. 2 doubles Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs came up short, losing 6-4 to even the score at 1-1 and leave the deciding point up to Jack Barnett and Tennyson Whiting.  After leading early in the decisive set, the Cougars saw the Wildcats tie the score and send the match into a tiebreaker for the No. 1 match win and the overall doubles point.  Barnett’s experience and Whiting's controlled enthusiasm came through for a 7-2 tiebreak win and the doubles point.

In singles play, BYU's Andrus won the No. 5 singles pairing with a dominating 6-2, 6-2 win over Lin of WSU.  Zach Fuchs finished not long after in the No. 6 singles match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Matteo Savio of WSU to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven match. 

In the first four singles matches the Cougars dropped the first set at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 singles while Matheus Leite held on for a 6-4 first set win at the No. 4 spot.  Leite won his match at No. 4 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory that gave the Cougars the overall dual match win. Barnett fell at No. 1 singles while both Thayne at No. 2 singles and Mateo Vereau at No. 3 singles came back and won the second set. 

With the overall match decided, a 10-point “Match Tiebreak” was played for the final two points.  Thayne won his tiebreak 10-5 while Vereau won in a tight 10-8 breaker for the final points.

“I am thrilled with the way the guys played today,” BYU head coach Dave Porter said.  "Weber’s got a good team and Brad Ferreira does a wonderful job with his players.  We are excited to start the season with a win and looking forward to our home season opener this week against Grand Canyon University."

The Cougars will face the Grand Canyon Antelopes for their home opener this Friday, Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. MST on the BYU Indoor Courts.

Links to a live stream and live stats for the Grand Canyon match will be provided. 

MATCH RESULTS 

DOUBLES:

No. 1 Jack Barnett & Tennyson Whiting (BYU) def. Arthur Serafim & Jordan Coutinho (Weber) 7-6, 7-2 TB

No. 2 Sebastian Buxman & Tristan Sarap (Weber) def. Wally Thayne & Zach Fuchs (BYU) 4-6

No. 3 Brigham Andrus & Matheus Leite (BYU) def. Bo-han Li & Chia-Chieh Lin (Weber) 6-1

SINGLES:

No. 1 Sebastian Buxman (Weber) def. Jack Barnett (BYU) 4-6, 2-6

No. 2  Wally Thayne (BYU) def. Tristan Sarap (Weber)  1-6, 7-6, 10-5 TB

No. 3 Mateo Vereau (BYU) def. Serafim (Weber)  6-7, 6-1, 10-8 TB

No. 4 Matheus Leite (BYU) def. Bo-han Li (Weber) 6-4, 6-4

No. 5 Brigham Andrus (BYU) def. Chia-Chieh Lin (Weber) 6-2, 6-2

No. 6 Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Matteo Savio (Weber) 6-3, 6-4