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The University of Utah Athletics
2002-03 Season Outlook
10/10/2002 12:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The University of Utah men's tennis program heads into the 2002-03 season aspiring to reach the same lofty goals it has every other season. "Number one, we want to win the conference; number two, we want to beat Brigham Young; and number three, we want to be ranked. We want to build on last year," challenges Head Coach F.D. Robbins.
Robbins, a two-time All-American tennis player at Utah, enters his 17th season as the Utes' head coach. Assisting him are Graeme Cox and Nik Yip, both former players under Robbins' tutelage. This is Cox's sixth year as an assistant. "It's great to have Graeme and his coaching experience," says Robbins of Cox. "He is a player's coach and the guys all respect and relate to him well."
Yip is in his first season as an assistant for Robbins. He lettered all four years during his career at Utah, which culminated with an appearance in last year's NCAA Championships with doubles partner David Mercier.
Last year, the Utes placed fourth in the Mountain West Conference with a record of 3-5. "If you look at our results, we lost several close matches," explains Robbins. Those close matches included four 4-3 losses, two of which were to New Mexico.
Overall, the Utes finished with a 15-12 record. Last year's schedule included some of the nation's top teams, such as Arizona, Arizona State, California, Stanford, and last year's NCAA team champions, USC. "Those strong Pac-10 teams are a measuring stick for our guys. It lets us know where we stand against the best players out there," says Robbins.
The Utes proved to be a superior team against unranked opponents, with 7-0 victories over Robert Morris, Weber State and Portland State. The team also had strong 6-1 victories over Utah State, Montana State, Saint Mary's College, Denver, Sacramento, Idaho State and Air Force.
The Utes begin the 2002-03 season with two open draw tournaments, the BYU Intercollegiate and the Region VII Intercollegiate in Las Vegas. Robbins expects the tournaments to provide an opportunity for the team to develop confidence early in the year. It will also be a chance for the coaches to get a feel for what strengths the incoming players have and what position they will play in.
The Utes have another tough nonconference schedule, making road trips to face USC, Stanford, California, Arizona and Arizona State. Utah hosts Utah State, Montana State, New Mexico State, Denver, Idaho State, Portland State, Weber State and Montana.
In conference play, the Utes will be on the road for matches against BYU in Provo, Utah, and New Mexico and Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. Utah hosts UNLV and San Diego State. "We play some really good teams and I think our schedule has a good mix of teams," states Coach Robbins. Conference play will conclude at the MWC Championships in Provo, Utah.
Utah will have to replace last year's singles players at the number one through four positions. "It's sad to see them go. The challenge now is bringing guys in and developing them as players," Robbins says of this year's team. He feels one of the keys to the success of the team will be chemistry. If the guys have good chemistry, Robbins believes, they won't care what position they play in the lineup.
Team captains Kaisorn Chaichana and Tyler Poulson, both academic All-Americans, are expected to fill some of the vacancies. According to Robbins, these two will be integral to the chemistry of the team. Chaichana, entering his final season, has seen limited playing time, but has been successful when given the opportunity. Robbins feels this season will be a great opportunity for the senior to play.
Poulson, a junior, has been very successful in doubles play. Last year, paired with Daniel Carlsson, he reached the round of 16 at the Omni Hotels Regional Tournament and the semifinals of the Brigham Young Invitational. Pouslon also has the best singles record of the returning Utes, going 17-10 last year. "I expect a big year out of Tyler," comments Robbins.
The other returnee to the team is sophomore Daniel Lohff. He finished with a 16-14 singles record last year while playing the number three through six positions. He was the only freshman to reach the quarterfinals of last year's Omni Hotels Regional Tournament, defeating second seed Mark Roberts of Boise State on the way. His win over Andreas Maurer of UNLV clinched the Utes' first round win in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Coach Robbins feels this has been one of the better recruiting years as of late. Arizona transfer Roeland Brateanu and freshman recruits Tomasz Grzyb and Nick Coutts are the newcomers to the Utes this year. Brateanu played his freshman and sophomore years at Arizona. He compiled a 19-15 singles record while playing mainly at the number five and six positions. Before his time at Arizona, Brateanu was very successful in club play in the Netherlands. In four years, he posted a 29-7 singles record and was ranked as high as 86th in the Dutch National rankings.
Grzyb comes in after a highly successful high school career. He was the provincial champion for Ontario in Under-14, 16 and 18 singles play, and was awarded the 2001 National Capital Tennis Association Player of the Year Award. In Canadian Nationals play, Grzyb was a finalist in Under-16 and Under-18.
Coutts comes to Utah having attained the top singles rank in British Columbia and number eight in Canada. He was also ranked sixth in Canadaian doubles play. While at Claremont High School, Coutts was successful in volleyball and tennis. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award for both teams as a senior. Coutts led the tennis team to a fourth-place showing at the British Colombia High School championships, which was the best showing ever for the team.
Robbins is proud of the integrity and academic success of his teams from the past. He feels that one of the strengths of this year's team is intelligence. "Hard work and discipline in the classroom transpires into hard work on the tennis court. If you do well academically, you'll do well in tennis." With this group of individuals, that should mean a successful season.
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