Men's tennis announces fall schedule

PROVO, Utah - BYU men’s tennis head coach Dave Porter announced the team’s fall 2022 schedule today. The invitationals feature BYU athletes competing individually in singles and doubles competitions against players from across the country.

The four tournaments the Cougars will participate in are:

• ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains – Colorado Springs, Colorado (Sep. 23-24)
• UC Santa Barbara Invitational – Santa Barbara, California (Oct. 7-8)
• ITA Mountain Regional – Albuquerque, New Mexico (Oct. 13-17)
• Rice Fall Challenge – Houston, Texas (Oct. 27-29)

Seven of the 10 players from last year’s team are returning for the upcoming season. Brigham Andrus, Jack Barnett and Zach Fuchs are all back after being limited by injury last year. Wally Thayne, who played in the No. 1 spot for most of last season, is also among the group.

Fifth-year contributor Mateo Vereau is the lone senior on the roster, continuing a trend of up-and-coming athletes playing an important role on the team. Last year’s roster had just two upperclassmen, allowing younger players to accumulate valuable playing time.

Coach Porter is entering his 36th year as a head coach. He spent 33 seasons at BYU-Hawaii, winning 11 national championships, before joining BYU in 2020. This will be his third year with the Cougars. Porter’s 1,432 career victories make him the winningest coach in collegiate tennis history.

ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains

Hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy, the tournament draws players from all corners of the U.S. The competition features 64 single and 32 double entries and is sponsored by the Edward T. Bedford Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting children and young adults.

UC Santa Barbara Invitational

2022 will be the second-straight year BYU competes in the event. At the 2021 edition, Thayne and Barnett partnered to finish second in doubles competition. Barnett, Thayne, Vereau and Dominik Jakovljevic all competed in the invitational’s singles events. Tournament hosts UC Santa Barbara finished the 2021-22 season ranked No. 56 nationally.

ITA Mountain Regional

All NCAA universities with tennis programs are divided into regions organized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The ITA regional championships serve as qualification for the ITA National Fall Championships, which crown a singles and doubles champion every November. BYU competes in the Mountain Region, which consists of 17 teams across eight states. This year’s Mountain Regional is hosted by the University of New Mexico.

Rice Fall Challenge

The annual Rice University event began in 2014. BYU is set to make its first-ever appearance in the four-school competition this October. The trip will also be the team’s first to Texas since 2013.

More information about each invitational, including draws, start times and media coverage, will be announced as it is made available. The BYU men’s tennis social media channels and website will have all of the up-to-date information plus previews and recaps for each event.