PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis saw ranked victories over the nation’s 5th and 59th singles players from Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs, but the Cougars ultimately lost 5-2 to No. 20 Stanford Thursday afternoon.
Thayne and Fuchs both won in straight sets. Stanford earned the doubles point after wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles before securing the match with four singles victories, two of which BYU forced into three sets.
“I'm always disappointed when we don't win, but I thought we played a very solid match against Stanford today,” said BYU head coach Dave Porter. “Stanford is obviously a good team, ranked 20th, and have a lot of ranked individual players. So, to be close in doubles and win at Nos. 2 and 3 singles in straight sets while being in three sets at Nos. 1 and 4, we're very pleased with how we played today. We're going to get a little bit of rest to be ready for San Diego on Saturday. Come and join us and after the first session of General Conference and watch some good tennis.”
Doubles
- Jack Barnett/Wally Thayne (BYU) vs. Filip Kolasinski/Samir Banerjee (STAN) 5-5, unf.
- Arthur Fery/Anders Matta (STAN) def. Zach Fuchs/Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-3
- Max Basing/Aryan Chaudhary (STAN) def. Redd Owen/Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 3
Stanford struck first at No. 2 doubles, scoring an early break to take a 3-1 lead. Fuchs and Andrus nearly had a break of their own later in the match but lost on deuce point. The two-game margin held throughout the match before Fery and Matta added another break point to take the match 6-3.
No. 3 doubles also saw Stanford go up 3-1. Once again the Cougars had a chance to even the score, but Owen and Jakovljevic fell on deuce point after going up 40-15. Basing and Chaudhary went on to win 6-3 to secure the doubles point.
The other two results meant No. 1 doubles went unfinished. The tight match was locked at 5-5, with neither side having lost their serve.
Singles
- No. 7 Arthur Fery (STAN) def. Jack Barnett (BYU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
- Wally Thayne (BYU) def. No. 5 Nishesh Basavareddy (STAN) 7-5, 6-3
- Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. No. 59 Samir Banerjee (STAN) 7-5, 6-3
- Neel Rajesh (STAN) def. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2
- Aryan Chaudhary (STAN) def. Redd Owen (BYU) 6-2, 6-4
- Filip Kolasinski (STAN) def. Brigham Andrus (BYU) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6
Fuchs put BYU on the board at No. 3 singles, where he defeated No. 59 Banerjee in straight sets. In set one, Fuchs fell behind 3-1 before winning a game while receiving without giving up a point to tie the set at 4-all. He later went ahead 6-5 before grabbing another break on deuce point to win the set 7-5.
Set two started with Fuchs up 2-0 after a backhand winner off Banerjee’s serve. Stanford responded with a break in the next game to tie the set at 2-all, but Fuchs then had two-straight games of his own to lead 4-2. That advantage held, with Fuchs winning the match on deuce point and taking set two 6-3.
Thayne secured a ranked win of his own at No. 2 singles, also winning in straight sets over No. 5 Basavareddy. Stanford led first when a break point gave Basavareddy a 3-2 lead, but Thayne took the next game on deuce point to tie the set. The pair remained tied until Thayne held his serve to go up 6-5 and won another break on deuce point to win set one 7-5.
Set two saw Thayne continue his momentum and start with a 3-0 lead. Two of those games were decided by deuce points, with Thayne victorious both times. He ultimately served for the match, holding his serve and winning 6-3 with a shot that hit the top of the net and trickled over to Stanford’s side.
Stanford’s first singles win came on the No. 1 court, where Barnett took No. 7 Fery to three sets. Barnett won set one after breaking a 4-4 tie with two-straight winning games. He won the second of those games while receiving with a nice return to Fery’s serve that Fery could not hit cleanly, giving Barnett the 6-4 set win. Set two saw Fery go up 3-1, and while Barnett stayed close, Fery ended up winning the set 6-3 after adding another break. Set three also went Fery’s way as the Cardinal won every game to win 6-0.
No. 4 singles also went to three sets. Jakovljevic was the aggressor in the first, taking a comfortable 6-2 win. The second also saw Jakovljevic take a lead, 4-2, before Rajesh fought back for a 4-all tie. Jakovljevic later survived two set points and saw the set head to a tiebreaker. Rajesh won the tiebreaker by a comfortable 7-3 margin and also took set three, winning 6-2.
Stanford clinched the dual match at No. 5 singles. Owen went down 3-1 before winning a break point to only trail 3-2, but Stanford won the final three games to take set one 6-2. Set two was tied 4-all before Chaudhary held his serve and won the next game while receiving to earn a 6-4 victory.
The Cardinal added to their lead at No. 6 singles, where Andrus fell in two close sets. Kolasinski took set one 6-4, winning three separate games on deuce points. Set two saw Andrus go up 5-3 with a chance to serve for the set, but Kolasinski won three-straight games to lead 6-5. Andrus extended the match with a break point of his own and later took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Stanford stormed back to win set two 7-6 (5).
BYU next hosts No. 27 San Diego this Saturday, April 1, at 12:00 p.m. MDT from the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.