SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – The West Coast Conference has announced the men’s tennis 2023 All-Conference awards, with BYU’s Jack Barnett and Wally Thayne receiving recognition for their performance this year. Barnett and Thayne both received WCC Singles All-Conference honorable mention, while the duo was named together to the WCC Doubles All-Conference Second Team.
The awards mean BYU now has 34 All-Conference honors after 11 men’s tennis seasons in the West Coast Conference. Thayne is a repeat honoree after receiving the same singles award last season, while Barnett was Doubles First Team and Singles Second Team in 2021.
Jack Barnett
The junior from Noosa, Australia, appeared in 22 matches this year, marking a successful return from injury that cost him most of the 2021-22 season. Many of his matches in 2023 went unfinished, with Barnett holding a 3-1 singles record and 2-0 doubles mark in WCC matches. He had the lead in all four of his uncompleted conference singles matches, with four more leads and two ties in seven unfinished doubles contests.
Barnett’s straight-set win at No. 1 singles helped BYU defeat No. 27 San Diego earlier this month. On February 21 he was named WCC Doubles Team of the Week with teammate Mateo Vereau after the pair went 2-0 with wins over Weber State and Saint Mary’s.
The fall season started with Barnett earning a bid to the invite-only ITA All-American Championships, collegiate tennis’ fall national championship. After four seasons at BYU he has a career winning record in both singles (29-26) and doubles (35-23).
Wally Thayne
Thayne appeared in 32 matches this season, including all 21 of the team’s dual matches. His 13 singles victories are a team high in 2023. The sophomore from Newbury Park, California, earned two ranked wins with results over No. 5 Nishesh Basavareddy from No. 20 Stanford and No. 69 Iiro Vasa from No. 27 San Diego.
Those two victories earned Thayne WCC Singles Player of the Week honors on April 4 and a national ranking for the following week (Singles No. 123). He was also the WCC Doubles Team of the Week on February 7 with teammate Zach Fuchs after a win over Cal Poly at No. 1 doubles.
Thayne’s victory over Basavareddy was the highest ranked win in program history since at least 1997 when digital records began. He also joined Barnett at the ITA All-American Championships in the fall.
2023 WCC Men’s Tennis All-Conference Awards
- Coach of the Year – Ryan Keckley, San Diego
- Co-Player of the Year – Daniel De Jonge, Pepperdine
- Co-Player of the Year – Sema Pankin, Portland
- Freshman of the Year – Ollie Tarvet, San Diego
Singles First Team
- Daniel De Jonge, Pepperdine
- Sema Pankin, Portland
- Ollie Tarvet, San Diego
- Iiro Vasa, San Diego
- James Watt, Saint Mary's
- Tim Zeitvogel, Pepperdine
Singles Second Team
- Ran Amar, Pacific
- Christian Lerby, Santa Clara
- Eleftherios Neos, Portland
- Arthur Pantino, LMU
- Sasha Trkulja, Gonzaga
- Eero Vasa, Pepperdine
Singles Honorable Mention
- Jack Barnett, BYU
- Arthus De La Bassetiere, Gonzaga
- Moritz Hoffmann, San Francisco
- Maxi Homberg, Pepperdine
- Stian Klaassen, San Diego
- Arthur Neuhaus, Santa Clara
- Sacchitt Sharrma, San Diego
- Wally Thayne, BYU
Doubles First Team
- Daniel De Jonge and Tim Zeitvogel, Pepperdine
- Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos, Portland
- Sacchitt Sharrma and Iiro Vasa, San Diego
Doubles Second Team
- Jack Barnett and Wally Thayne, BYU
- Matthew Hollingworth and Sasha Trkulja, Gonzaga
- Arthur Neuhaus and Guillaume Dalmasso, Santa Clara
Doubles Honorable Mention
- Maxi Homberg and Eero Vasa, Pepperdine
- Carlos Ramos and James Watt, Saint Mary's
- Ollie Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego
- Emin Torlic and Arthur Pantino, LMU