Thayne, Fuchs advance to doubles quarterfinals on day one at ITA Mountain Regionals

Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs led BYU Men’s tennis with undefeated outings in both doubles and singles as the team totaled four singles wins and three doubles victories on day one of the ITA Mountain Regional Championships at Air Force on Thursday.

Thayne, Fuchs advance to doubles quarterfinals on day one at ITA Mountain RegionalsThayne, Fuchs advance to doubles quarterfinals on day one at ITA Mountain Regionals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs led BYU Men’s tennis with undefeated outings in both doubles and singles as the team totaled four singles wins and three doubles victories on day one of the ITA Mountain Regional Championships at Air Force on Thursday.

Photo Credit: Air Force Athletics

Thayne and Fuchs posted three wins apiece (two doubles, 1 singles), joining forces to take down Martin Guillermo and Fernando Perez of Montana (8-5) before a win over UNLV’s Dusan Rsovac and Ti Hirano (8-3) to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

The latter doubles win came less than a week after Jack Barnett and Redd Owen bested Rsovac and Hirano last Saturday.

"Today was a great start for the Cougs at our regional championships. The team got off to an impressive start, winning four of five singles matches. We’ll look to continue to build off that momentum tomorrow. In doubles, Zach and Wally came up with two big wins, securing a spot in tomorrow’s quarterfinals. It was a great team effort with good resolve in difficult moments. The team is excited for more opportunities to represent the Y tomorrow."

Zack WarrenBYU men's tennis head coach

Thayne defeated Adrian Daniel of Montana State in singles play with a dominating score of 6-0, 6-2. Only two game losses in the junior’s straight set victory led all Cougars. Fuchs defeated Idaho State's Andreas Kramer 6-2 in the first set before staving off Kramer once again at 6-4.

After a tight, opening round tiebreak loss by Jack Barnett and Redd Owen, the senior/sophomore combo bounced back in the consolation round to defeat New Mexico State’s Luca D’Ostiani and Itay Feigin comfortably at 8-3. In singles play, Barnett faced Philipp Rein of in-state foe Utah State, winning 6-3, 6-4. Owen also won in straight sets, defeating Jakub Prachar of Northern Arizona 6-3 before forging ahead in a second set tiebreak to win 7-6 (2).

Freshman TJ Wells and sophomore Brian Chen also competed, with Wells coming up short in singles and the duo falling in the opening round to Weber State’s William Zulch and Connor Kruger 8-4 before a tightly contested consolation round defeat.

The Cougars will be back in action Friday morning, beginning with doubles play at 9 a.m. Stay tuned with player start times posted on X.

See full results below.

Open Singles - Main Draw

No. 103 Wally Thayne def. Adrian Daniel (Montana State) 6-0, 6-2

Redd Owen def. Jakub Prachar (Northern Arizona) 6-3, 7-6 (2)

AJ Moore (Air Force) def. TJ Wells 6-1, 6-4

Zach Fuchs def. Andreas Kramer (Idaho State) 6-2, 6-4

Jack Barnett def. Philipp Rein (Utah State) 6-3, 6-4

Open Doubles - Main Draw

Bittner/Zhang (Montana) def. Barnett/Owen 8-7 (2)

Zulch/Kruger (Weber State) def. Chen/Wells 8-4

Fuchs/Thayne def. Martin/Perez 8-5

Fuchs/Thayne def. Rsovac/Hirano (UNLV) 8-3

Open Doubles - Consolation

Barnett/Owen def. Fe D’ostiani/Feigin (New Mexico State) 8-3

De Pellegrin/Kramer (Idaho State) def. Chen/Wells 8-6