BYU men’s tennis upset No. 35 Oklahoma State at the outdoor tennis courts in Provo, 4-2, and ended its eight-game Big 12 losing streak.
The Cougars battled the Cowboys on Saturday in its first Big 12 match win of the year. The Cougars had lost eight straight Big 12 matches after losing to No. 17 Arizona on Thursday.
Junior Nicolas Kobelt and junior Derek Pham led Oklahoma State in doubles, taking the doubles point despite a late push by BYU.
Senior Adam Chodur and junior Otto Schreiner pushed their competitive doubles match to a 12th game but ultimately lost the match and as a result, lost the doubles point as well.
The Cougars, however, did not give up.
In singles, the Cougars continued to fight relentlessly behind Chodur’s push against Oklahoma State senior Alessio Basile.
“My confidence has grown as I’ve just been playing matches at [court] one,” said Chodur. “I feel like every time I play the win is a little bit more achievable.”
While Chodur went to battle, BYU junior Tygen Goldammer won the first point of the match for the Cougars defeating Kobelt in two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
“Super fun match, super high intensity. Just super happy with the result beating Oklahoma State, a very solid team. Just electric out there, super fun,” said Goldammer.
The tie between the Cowboys and Cougars didn’t last for long after BYU junior David Duong had a statement win over Pham, 7-5, 6-0. The second set marked the first time Duong has won 6-0 in a set all season.
The score was now 2-1 in favor of the Cougars.
Sophomore Hardy Owen, after going down in the first set, won sets two and three, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, and gave the Cougars a formidable 3-1 lead in the match.
Victory was in sight for BYU.
However, Basile ultimately defeated Chodur after a back-and-forth battle.
BYU still proved to be relentless.
The freshmen for BYU, Yubel Ubri and Caden Hasler, saw the score and responded.
Both battling in third sets, Ubri and Hasler took leads against OSU’s Ian Bracks and Aaron Williams.
Hasler then emphatically slammed the door on OSU and clinched the win for BYU, 4-2.
“I thought, wow, they really needed my point today and even though I didn’t get it, I was pretty hyped. I was pretty hyped after I saw Caden clinch that,” said Chodur.
The win reinforced BYU’s identity of perseverance and added momentum to an already tight-knit team.
“I mean our team spirit is super high. We all love each other so much,” said Chodur. “That’s what carried us out there today—just our energy and our kind of companionship.”
Defeating no. 35 OSU also marks the fourth-highest ranked victory for BYU in the past decade, which is amazing considering the close matches that it had to start off the season.
“Earlier in the season we were having a little bit more trouble having tight matches with teams we probably shouldn't have tight matches with,” said Goldammer. “But we just keep fighting and fighting and we’ve been doing a great job as of late.”
BYU is now 13-3 overall and will play its next match in Orlando, Florida on March 19 against UCF.