Tempe, Ariz. — The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its Division I Preseason Rankings Tuesday, with Wally Thayne ranked No. 103 among all singles athletes.
Comprised of the top 125 singles rankings, the spot marks the junior’s first time in the preseason standings and highest career ITA ranking after peaking at No. 123 the week of April 4 last season. The last Cougar to enter individual match play with a national ranking came in 2020-21 with Sean Hill at No. 98.
Thayne’s spot is well deserved after a 2022-23 campaign that included the highest-ranked win in program history last March when he defeated Stanford’s No. 5 Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-3. Basavareddy came in at No. 6 in Tuesday’s rankings. Thayne also defeated No. 69 Iiro Vasa (7-5, 7-5) to help BYU take down No. 27 San Diego in dual match play.
Thayne earned All-WCC Honorable Mention Singles and All-WCC Second Team Doubles last season while recording 13 singles victories to lead the team.
The junior from Newbury Park, California leads the charge for the Cougars in their first season competing in the Big 12. Seven teams in the conference sponsor men’s tennis in addition to BYU - all teams have at least one athlete ranked to combine for 23 total in singles. Texas and TCU each tout five athletes, including the Longhorns’ No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri. Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have three apiece.
Big 12 schools will not face off in dual matches until conference play in the spring season. The Cougars first match of the 2023 fall season is set to take place Friday, Sept. 22 with the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains at Air Force.
| Big 12 - ITA Preseason Singles Rankings | ||
|---|---|---|
| School | Number | Athlete(s)/Ranking |
| TCU | 5 | Jake Fearnley (7), Jack Pinnington (26), Sebastian Grozny (43), Pedro Vives (82) & Lui Maxted (123) |
| Texas | 5 | Eliot Spizzirri (1), Pierre-Yves Bailly (16), Micah Braswell (17), Siem Woldeab (28) & Jonah Braswell (45) |
| Baylor | 3 | Tadeas Paroulek (38), Oskar Brostrom Paulsen (72) & Zsombor Velcz (114) |
| Oklahoma | 3 | Alex Martinez (49), Justin Schlageter (58) & Jordan Hasson (90) |
| Oklahoma State | 3 | Tyler Zink (40), Isaac Becroft (51) & Alex Garcia (116) |
| UCF | 3 | Yassine Dlimi (69) and Lleyton Cronje (124) |
| BYU | 1 |
Wally Thayne (103) |
| Texas Tech | 1 |
Olle Wallin (30) |