Cougars fall 4-1 to Santa Clara

PROVO, Utah – The first outdoor home match of the season for BYU men’s tennis resulted in a 4-1 loss to Santa Clara Saturday afternoon. The Cougars had a doubles win from Jack Barnett and Wally Thayne but ultimately lost the doubles point, with Barnett earning the team’s lone singles victory.

“We appreciate the fans that came out to watch us play Santa Clara today. They’re a good team,” said BYU head coach Dave Porter. “It was our first time hitting outdoors since early November; quite a change with the sun, wind and everything else, especially playing a team that only plays outdoors. But we need to step up a little bit better than we did. I want to compliment those guys that played well today, and the rest of us are going to gear up and we're going to be ready for LMU and Pepperdine next week.”

FULL RESULTS

Doubles

1. Jack Barnett/Wally Thayne (BYU) def. Guillaume Dalmasso/Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) 6-3
2. Christian Lerby/Jack Pulliam (SCU) def. Zach Fuchs/Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-4
3. Mann Shah/Santiago Hinojosa (SCU) def. Dominik Jakovljevic/Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

The Broncos started out with a win at No. 3 doubles. Shah and Hinojosa lead 5-0 before Jakovljevic and Owen won a game, but SCU took the next game to win the match 6-1.

BYU equalized the doubles portion of the match at the No. 1 court, where an early break put Barnett and Thayne up 4-2. That advantage would hold for the rest of the match, with Thayne landing a second serve that was not returnable to secure a 6-3 victory.

The doubles point was then decided at No. 2 doubles, where an early break had Santa Clara up 3-1. The Broncos later led 5-2 before Fuchs and Andrus held their serve and won a break point of their own to cut the lead to 5-4. BYU had a chance to hold serve again and tie the match at 5-all, but Lerby and Pulliam won another game while receiving to take the match 6-4.

Singles

1. Jack Barnett (BYU) def. Guillaume Dalmasso (SCU) 7-6 (5), 6-2
2. Christian Lerby (SCU) def. No. 123 Wally Thayne (BYU) 7-6 (1), 6-2
3. Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) def. Zach Fuchs (BYU) 7-6 (6), 6-4
4. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) vs. Mann Shah (SCU) 4-6, 5-5, unf.
5. Redd Owen (BYU) vs. Santiago Hinojosa (SCU) 4-6, 7-5, 0-1, unf.
6. Jack Pulliam (SCU) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

Order of finish: 6, 2, 1, 3

Santa Clara struck first again in singles, winning in straight sets on court No. 6. Set one saw Pulliam win 6-3, but Andrus went ahead in set two, 4-2. The momentum then swung back to Pulliam, who won four-straight games to take the set 6-4 and win the match.

Thayne’s first set at No. 2 singles went to a tiebreaker after he survived two potential breaks by winning on deuce point. The tiebreaker went Lerby’s way however, as he won 7-1. The second set saw Lerby grab a break point at the beginning and end to win 6-2.

Barnett earned BYU’s lone singles victory at the No. 1. Set one went to a tiebreaker after both sides deadlocked at 6-all, with each player winning a break point earlier in the set. Dalmasso had an early 4-3 lead in the tiebreaker before Barnett won four of the next five points to win 7-5. Barnett made sure the second set was a much easier win, securing two break points to go up 4-0. His advantage held from there on the way to a 6-2 victory.

No. 3 singles also needed a tiebreaker to decide the first set. There, Fuchs pushed Neuhaus past the seven points necessary to win, but Neuhaus ultimately got the two-point lead he needed, taking set one 7-6 (6). Set two was also close, with Neuhaus not going ahead until a late breaker put him up 5-3. Fuchs responded by holding his serve but was unable to break back. Santa Clara’s 6-4 win in set two clinched the dual match for the Broncos.

The remaining two singles matches went unfinished. Jakovljevic recovered from going down 3-0 in set one at No. 4 singles to tie the set at 3-all, but Shah added another break point in the set’s final game to win 6-4. Set two saw Jakovljevic go up 3-1 before Shah tied the score at 4-all. The pair were tied 5-5 when the match was abandoned.

No. 5 singles was the only match to go to three sets. Owen lost set one 4-6 but was the aggressor in set two, which he led 5-3. Hinojosa came back to force a 5-5 tie, but Owen held his serve and then broke Hinojosa on deuce point to win the set 7-5. The third set was interrupted shortly after Hinojosa won game one to lead 1-0.

BYU hits the road for the final time this season next week with a trip to Southern California. The Cougars visit Loyola Marymount on Friday, April 14, and No. 36 Pepperdine on Saturday, April 15.