BYU concludes regular season with 4-1 victory over Pacific

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis secured a winning record at home for the 2023 season with a 4-1 victory over Pacific in the team’s regular season finale Friday afternoon. The Cougars (6-15, 4-5 WCC) won the doubles point and matches at No. 1, 2, and 3 singles.

Brigham Andrus and Zach Fuchs joined Wally Thayne and Brian Chen in earning doubles victories. Thayne, Fuchs and Dominik Jakovljevic picked up singles wins.

“We're thrilled to win our final match of the year against an up-and-coming Pacific team. We're grateful that we were able to pull it off without Jack Barnett, who's been under the weather, and look forward to an opportunity to play in the conference tournament,” said BYU head coach Dave Porter. “We'll find out on Sunday if we make the tournament and hope to have a chance to show what we can really do at full strength. Thank you to all the fans who came for today's match and throughout the season, we appreciate your continued support.”

FULL RESULTS

Doubles

1. Brigham Andrus/Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Peter Alam/Andre Rodeia (PAC) 6-4
2. Ran Amar/Terence Das (PAC) def. Dominik Jakovljevic/Redd Owen (BYU) 6-3
3. Wally Thayne/Brian Chen (BYU) def. Tiago Silva/Manroop Saini (PAC) 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

BYU took the lead at No. 3 doubles after a shot by Chen at the net gave the Cougars a break and 3-2 lead. Thayne landed a backhand return off Pacific’s serve later in the match to add another break point, expanding the lead to 5-2. Chen and Thayne then held their serve in the next game to clinch the 6-2 victory. The result was Chen’s first career dual match victory in his second appearance this season.

No. 2 doubles saw Pacific win a break point in the match’s first game, with the Tigers maintaining their lead for the rest of the match. Jakovljevic and Owen gave up a break in the final game as well to fall 6-4.

The doubles point then came down to the first court. Andrus and Fuchs won a rally after a Pacific shot went long to take the only break point of the match and lead 4-3. Fuchs later won match point with a second-serve ace that gave the Cougars a 6-4 victory and the doubles point.

Singles

1. Wally Thayne (BYU) def. Peter Alam (PAC) 6-3, 7-6 (0)
2. Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Ran Amar (PAC) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)
3. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) def. Terence Das (PAC) 6-4, 6-4
4. Tiago Silva (PAC) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
5. Brigham Andrus (BYU) vs. Andre Rodeia (PAC) 0-3, unf.
6. Brian Chen (BYU) vs. Manroop Saini (PAC) 2-0, unf.

Order of finish: 1, 4, 3, 2

Thayne continued BYU’s momentum at No. 1 singles, where he rallied from down 0-40 to win a break on deuce point and lead 5-3 in set one. He then held serve in the next game to take the set 6-3. Neither player lost their serve in set two, necessitating a first-to-seven tiebreaker. Thayne won every single point in the tiebreaker, finishing the 7-0 run with a serve that Alam could not get back over the net.

The Tigers got their lone point of the match at No. 4 singles. In set one Owen lost two potential breaks on deuce point, with Silva converting his own break point to lead 3-1. Owen would later tie the set at 4-all and survive two set points with the set at 5-4 before later giving up another break to fall 7-5. Set two saw the players combine for seven separate breaks, including four-straight to put the score at 3-all. Silva won the final game while receiving, with Owen falling on deuce point to lose the set 6-4.

Jakovljevic took a 5-3 lead in set one of No. 3 singles before Das won a break point to bring the lead to 5-4. A forehand shot from Jakovljevic in the next game was then too strong for Das to return back, giving Jakovljevic another break and the 6-4 set win. Das started set two with a 2-0 advantage and was later ahead 4-2 before Jakovljevic won four-straight games to take the set 6-4. All four games needed a deciding point after reaching a 40-all scoreline.

Neither side lost their serve at any point on court two, necessitating a tiebreaker in both sets. Fuchs used a forehand winner to start the set one tiebreaker up 2-0, later landing three unreturnable serves to win 7-5. Amar was the aggressor in set two’s tiebreaker, going up 4-1. Fuchs then won six-straight points, once again ending with a pair of serves that Amar was unable to hit cleanly. The 7-4 victory also won the dual match for BYU.

The remaining singles matches went unfinished. Andrus gave up two breaks at No. 5 singles to trail 3-0 in set one. No. 6 singles featured Chen making his third singles appearance of the dual match season, two of which have gone unfinished. He led 2-0 after winning a break in the first game and hitting a drop shot to hold his serve in the second.

The Cougars now await results from other West Coast Conference matches to determine if they will be in the conference’s postseason tournament. The opening round in San Diego, California, begins on Thursday, April 27, and features the top six WCC teams.