DALLAS — BYU men’s tennis had four Cougars compete in both doubles and singles play at SMU’s Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge on Friday.
"While we came up short in our matches today, we were putting ourselves in positions to win, which is positive," said BYU men's tennis assistant coach Jonathan Sanchez. "We will make a few adjustments from today and come out stronger for tomorrow’s second round of matches."
Jack Barnett and Redd Owen began the day in doubles with a 6-4 loss to SMU’s Liam Krall and Callaway Clark. The duo later played again, suffering defeat to Harvard’s David Lins and Alan Yim by the same score of 6-4.
TJ Wells and Brian Chen kept things even throughout their first doubles match before dropping a tough 7-6 (5) set against SMU’s Louis Cloud and Kyle Sillman in what would be the first of three tiebreakers BYU played on the day. The tandem then fell 6-1 to Oklahoma’s Hank Trondson and Akahi Harazaki.
In singles, Owen found himself locked in a back-and-forth duel with Valdemar Pape (Harvard). The sophomore fell 6-3 in the opening set before bouncing back to win 6-3. With a super tiebreaker in place of the third set, Owen lost 10-4. Barnett lost to Oklahoma’s Akahi Harazaki in straight sets after a close, drawn-out first set tiebreaker in which he fell 10-8. The second set score was 6-1. With the result, the senior is now 5-2 in singles play during fall individual matches.
Wells squared off against Marc Ktiri (Harvard) with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat. Chen lost to Oklahoma’s Trondson 6-2, 6-4.
BYU returns to action tomorrow, with doubles play beginning at 9 a.m. CDT.
Friday Results
Doubles
-Liam Krall/Callaway Clark (SMU) def. Barnett/Owen 6-4
-David Lins/Alan Yim (Harvard) def. Barnett/Owen 6-4
-Louis Cloud/Kyle Sillman (SMU) def. Wells/Chen 7-6 (5)
-Hank Trondson/Akahi Harazaki (Oklahoma) def. Wells/Chen 6-1
Singles
-Valdemar Pape (Harvard) def. Owen 6-3, 3-6, [10-4]
-Akahi Harazaki (Oklahoma) def. Barnett 7-6 (8), 6-1
-Marc Ktiri (Harvard) def. Wells 6-4, 6-4
-Hank Trondson (Oklahoma) def. Chen 6-2, 6-4