No. 35 Pepperdine defeats BYU 4-0

MALIBU, Calif. – The final road match of the season for BYU men’s tennis saw the Cougars fall 4-0 to No. 35 Pepperdine. Jack Barnett and Dominik Jakovljevic each won the first set in their respective singles matches but had to end each contest early once Pepperdine secured the dual match.

FULL RESULTS

Doubles

1. Jack Barnett/Wally Thayne (BYU) vs. Maxi Homberg/Eero Vasa (PEPP) 6-5, unf.
2. Linus Halldin/Pietro Fellin (PEPP) def. Brigham Andrus/Zach Fuchs (BYU) 6-4
3. Robert Shelton/Max Wuelfing (PEPP) def. Dominik Jakovljevic/Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 2

The Waves earned their first doubles victory on court three. After both sides won their first games serving, Pepperdine used two breaks to win the next five games and take the match 6-1.

Andrus and Fuchs lost their serve on a deuce point to trail 2-1 at No. 2 doubles but won the next game while receiving on a deuce of their own. Halldin and Fellin added another break later in the match to lead 5-3, an advantage they maintained until finishing with a 6-4 victory.

No. 1 doubles then went unfinished with Barnett and Thayne holding a 6-5 lead and Pepperdine set to serve. Every game in the match was won by the serving team. Four games were decided with a deuce point, with Barnett and Thayne recovering from down 30-40 to win the game both times a deuce occurred while they were serving.

Singles

1. Jack Barnett (BYU) vs. Eero Vasa (PEPP) 7-6 (8), 2-1, unf.
2. Wally Thayne (BYU) vs. Pietro Fellin (PEPP) 5-7, 2-5, unf.
3. Maxi Homberg (PEPP) def. Zach Fuchs (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) vs. Linus Halldin (PEPP) 6-4, 2-2, unf.
5. Robert Shelton (PEPP) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Max Wuelfing (PEPP) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: 6, 5, 3

Pepperdine took a comfortable 4-0 lead to start set one at No. 6 singles. Andrus was then able to hold serve to pick up two games before Wuelfing ultimately won 6-2. Set two also went Wuelfing’s way, as he won five of the final six games to earn a 6-3 victory.

No. 5 singles also saw a large early lead for Pepperdine as Shelton started out up 5-0 in set one, which he eventually won 6-1. Owen then gave up two break points in set two, with Shelton winning 6-2 to put the Waves up 3-0 in the dual match.

Fuchs had two close sets at No. 3 singles but ultimately fell in straight sets. Homberg used a one-break advantage in both sets to win 6-3 in each. The result clinched the dual match for Pepperdine and caused the remaining singles matches to go unfinished.

Barnett was ahead at No. 1 singles at the time of interruption. In set one he lost a deuce point to lose his serve and trail 3-2 but responded with a break of his own with a backhand return on deuce point to force a 3-all tie. The set ultimately went to a first-to-seven tiebreaker, which Barnett started with a 6-2 lead. Vasa survived all four of those set points and later outlasted three more before Barnett hit a cross-court winner to end a long rally and take the tiebreaker 10-8.

Set two saw Barnett win an early break point to lead 2-1. He was serving and looking to expand his lead to two games when the match was abandoned.

Court two saw Pepperdine hold an advantage, with Fellin taking set one 7-5. Thayne trailed 4-3 earlier in the set after losing his serve but won a break of his own in the subsequent game to earn a 4-all tie. Fellin later won another break point to take the final two games of the set. The second set had Fellin up 5-2 and set to serve before being left unfinished.

Jakovljevic used a break at No. 4 singles to lead set one 3-1. His advantage held for the rest of the set, which he won 6-4. Halldin looked to flip the momentum in set two by going up 2-0, but Jakovljevic won the next two games to bring the set to 2-all upon its conclusion. Both of the breaks in set two were won on deuce points.

The Cougars return home next week for the final match of the regular season when Pacific visits the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts on Friday, April 21, at 11:00 a.m. MDT.