Cougars take down No. 27 San Diego 4-2

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis upset No. 27 San Diego 4-2 on Saturday afternoon, snapping the Toreros’ previously-perfect 5-0 record in West Coast Conference play. The Cougars improved to 2-2 in WCC matches after singles wins from Jack Barnett, Wally Thayne, Zach Fuchs and Brigham Andrus.

Thayne defeated the No. 69 singles player in the country, marking his second ranked victory in a row. Three of the four BYU wins were in straight sets, with Andrus clinching the dual match in three sets.

“We’re thrilled to get an important conference win today against a very good San Diego team that is ranked 27th in the nation. The way that we played against Stanford and the way that we played today, we're finally putting it together as we go into the bulk of the conference season,” said BYU head coach Dave Porter. “We want to thank those fans who came and joined us in between sessions of general conference and appreciate their support. We look forward to having them back and others coming to watch us play on Friday at 11:00 a.m. against San Francisco.”

FULL RESULTS

Singles

1. Jack Barnett (BYU) def. Oliver Tarvet (USD) 6-3, 6-4
2. Wally Thayne (BYU) def. No. 69 Iiro Vasa (USD) 7-5, 7-5
3. Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Sacchitt Sharrma (USD) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
4. Stian Klaassen (USD) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Marvin Schaber (USD) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Brigham Andrus (BYU) def. Neo Niedner (USD) 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1

Order of finish: 4, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

San Diego won the first point of the match at No. 4 singles. Klaassen had an early break to lead 2-0 in set one and while Jakovljevic nearly had a break of his own, he lost on deuce point. USD would later add another break point to take the set 6-1. Set two was much closer as it was Jakovljevic’s turn to win a break and start up 2-0, but Klaasen rallied to later tie the set at 3-all. Klaasen rode the momentum and also won the set’s final three games to secure set two 6-4.

Barnett won BYU’s first point at No. 1 singles, starting off strong with a 3-0 advantage in set one. That gap would hold as Barnett went on to win 6-3. Set two also started with Barnett winning a break point to go up 2-0. Once again he maintained his advantage as the set went on and locked up the final game by only giving up one point, resulting in a 6-4 set win.

Thayne earned his second ranked victory of the week at No. 2 singles, defeating No. 69 Vasa in straight sets. In the first he trailed 2-0 but rallied by taking eight of the next nine points to tie the set at 2-all. A 5-all tie later on was broken after Thayne held his serve and earned a break on deuce point with a strong backhand winner to take set one 7-5.

In set two Thayne trailed again after San Diego went ahead 4-2. He was later down 5-3 but took the next four games to not only extend the set but go on and win the match. The final point came on deuce point and was won by Thayne after Vasa double faulted, giving Thayne the 7-5 victory.

No. 3 singles saw both sets go to tiebreakers. In the first Fuchs won a break point to lead 3-1 but was immediately broken back. The set stayed tied from there, necessitating a tiebreaker. Fuchs jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Sharrma won five-straight points to go ahead 5-4. Fuchs responded with two break points and a serve that was returned out-of-bounds to win the tiebreaker 7-5.

Set two also saw the two sides trade breaks before needing a tiebreaker. Fuchs took a 5-0 lead, but Sharrma fought back again to cut the deficit to 6-5. The comeback would stop there, however, when Fuchs hit a drop shot that San Diego could not get to in time, cementing a 7-5 tiebreaking victory.

San Diego cut the dual match lead to 3-2 at No. 5 singles. Owen trailed 2-0 in set one before tying the set 2-2, but Schaber went ahead again and won four of the last five games to win the set 6-3. Schaber led again in set two, 5-1, after winning three break points. Owen survived three more games and a match point to only trail 5-4, before San Diego held serve in the final game to win 6-4.

Andrus clinched the dual match for the Cougars at No. 6 singles. The two sides traded break points in set one before Andrus added another to lead 4-2. Both sides held their serves until Andrus won the set 6-3 with three-straight winners on his serves, two of which were aces. In set two neither side lost their serves, although Andrus had to survive two set points before going to a tiebreaker. Niedner won that 7-3 to send the match to a third set.

Set three saw the momentum flip back to Andrus. A 1-1 tie turned into a 6-1 set win after two break points and more strong serving. The dual match clinching point came on a deuce, with Andrus’ serve not returned over the net.

Doubles

1. Wally Thayne/Jack Barnett (BYU) vs. Iiro Vasa/Sacchitt Sharrma (USD) unf.
2. Zach Fuchs/Brigham Andrus (BYU) vs. Oliver Tarvet/Stian Klaassen (USD) unf.
3. Dominik Jakovljevic/Reddd Owen (BYU) vs. Marvin Schaber/Lambert Ruland (USD) unf.

Doubles were not played as BYU had already secured the dual match.

The Cougars remain at home as their WCC campaign continues next week. San Francisco comes to Provo on Friday, April 7, before Santa Clara visits on Saturday, April 8. Both matches begin at 11:00 a.m. MDT.