No. 56 Oregon defeats BYU 4-0

EUGENE, Ore. – Brigham Andrus and Redd Owen earned another doubles victory for BYU men’s tennis Saturday afternoon but the Cougars were ultimately defeated 4-0 by No. 56 Oregon.

BYU (3-9, 1-0 WCC) nearly won the doubles point at the No. 2 court with Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs but the Ducks were victorious in a tiebreaker to earn their first point of the match. Oregon went on to win three singles matches on courts 6, 1 and 3 to clinch the team victory.

"Oregon has a solid team and played well today," said BYU head coach Dave Porter. "We’re improving with every match and look forward to WCC matches next week at Gonzaga and Portland."

FULL RESULTS

Doubles

1. No. 8 Joshua Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) def. Jack Barnett/Mateo Vereau (BYU) 6-1
2. Ivailo Keremedchiev/Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) def. Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-6 (5)
3. Brigham Andrus/Redd Owen (BYU) def. Ray Lo/Avi Shugar (ORE) 6-4

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Oregon got on the board first at No. 1 doubles, where the eighth-best team in the country took the final five games to win 6-1. Barnett and Vereau had a strong start with the match tied 1-all but fell behind from there.

BYU equalized the race for the doubles point at No. 3 doubles. Andrus and Owen started with an early 4-1 lead with the Oregon pair fighting back to only trail 5-4. The comeback attempt would ultimately be thwarted as the Cougars took the last game to win 6-4.

No. 2 doubles was also a tight contest, with the Ducks going ahead 4-2 before Thayne and Fuchs forced a 4-4 tie. The two sides could not be separated as the match progressed, necessitating a first to seven tiebreaker. There Keremedchiev and Klov-Nilsson got the narrow advantage they needed, winning 7-5 to give Oregon the doubles point.

Singles

1. Joshua Charlton (ORE) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
2. Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) vs. Jack Barnett (BYU) 6-3, 4-5, unf.
3. Ivailo Keremedchiev (ORE) vs. Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-6 (5), 4-3, unf.
4. Jesper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Vlad Breazu (ORE) vs. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-2, 5-2, unf.
6. Luke Vandecasteele (ORE) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: 6, 1, 3

The Ducks expanded their lead at No. 6 singles. Andrus was initially tied 2-all in the first set before losing the next four games as Luke Vandecasteele won 6-2. The second set saw Andrus stay within a one break difference but fall short and lose 6-3.

Thayne suffered a quick defeat in set one at No. 1 singles, 6-2 but nearly forced a third set with his play in set two. Neither side was able to pull ahead in the second, necessitating a tiebreaker to determine the set. Thayne kept that battle close as well but ultimately fell by a narrow 7-5 margin.

Oregon won the dual match at No. 4 singles. Jakovljevic kept the first set close, only losing 6-4, but Klov-Nilsson took a comfortable lead in the second to win 6-2.

The Ducks had advantages at the remaining three singles matches, which went unfinished. Barnett was turning his match at the No. 2 spot around, however, leading 5-4 in set two and set to serve when the interruption came. He previously lost set one 6-3.

Fuchs also had a close match at No. 3 singles, recovering from a 3-0 deficit in set one to force a 6-all tie. Keremedchiev won the ensuing tiebreaker 7-5, with set two officially at 4-3 in Oregon’s favor. The match was called before Fuchs had a chance to continue keeping pace with Keremedchiev.

No. 5 singles saw Breazu win four-straight games in both sets to lead Owen 6-2, 5-2.

Next weekend the Cougars will visit the final two stops on their eight-match road trip. They face Gonzaga on Friday, March 24, at 3:00 p.m. PDT and Portland on Saturday, March 25, at 5:00 p.m. PDT.