Cougars come up short against Broncos, 4-3

PROVO, Utah — In a closely fought battle, BYU men’s tennis came up short against Boise State with a 3-4 loss at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts on Friday.

MATCH RESULTS

“I'm disappointed with the outcome, but I'm glad about some of the things that happened today,” said BYU head coach Dave Porter. “I thought we started out playing some good doubles. We didn't step up when we needed to in some of the singles matches, but we're short-handed with our number one player out of singles and our number six player out of singles and doubles, and a few coming back from COVID. Although we had three of our players out of the lineup, Boise State is a good team. They deserved to win today. They played hard, they played well, they played fairly. We learned some things we need to continue to work on, and we've got three days to get ready before we leave to play New Mexico.”

The undefeated doubles duo, Brigham Andrus and Matheus Leite came out strong at No. 3 doubles taking a 6-1 win against the Broncos. Mateo Vereau and Wally Thayne followed closely behind with a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles to secure the doubles point. The No. 1 doubles team, Jack Barnett and Tennyson Whiting, had a tighter match with their Bronco opponents, but came out on top in a 8-6 tiebreak.

In singles play, the Cougars fell at No. 2 and 4 singles, causing them to trail the Broncos, 1-2. At No. 1 singles, Thayne won the first set in a tiebreak, 7-5, but was unable to hold onto the win in the second and third sets.

Leite gave the Cougars their first singles point with a 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles.

Splitting sets at both No. 5 and 6 singles, Domink Jakovljevic and Otto Schreiner fought closely with their Boise State opponents. Jakovljevic fell 1-6, 6-4, 4-6 to Bronco James Van Herzeele at No. 5 singles.  At No. 6 singles, Schreiner came out on top in a tight three-set match, winning 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

The Cougars prepare to face University of New Mexico in New Mexico next Friday, Feb. 18. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. MDT.

MATCH RESULTS

Doubles Competition:

1. Jack Barnett/Tennyson Whiting (BYU) def. Moortgat, Caden/Arca Costas, Simon (BSU) 7-6 (8-6)
2. Wally Thayne/Mateo Vereau (BYU) def. Minakata, Ryo/Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) 6-4
3. Matheus Leite/Brigham Andrus (BYU) def. Liborio, Pedro/Van Herzeele, James (BSU) 6-1

Singles Competition:

1. Liborio, Pedro (BSU) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4
2. Arca Costas, Simon (BSU) def. Mateo Vereau (BYU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Matheus Leite (BYU) def. Moortgat, Caden (BSU) 7-6 (7), 6-1
4. Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-3, 7-6 (7)
5. Van Herzeele, James (BSU) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
6. Otto Schreiner (BYU) def. Minakata, Ryo (BSU) 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-4