Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus Baylor on April 16, 2026 , Loss , 1, to, 4
Final Score
Men's Tennis
1
vs Baylor
4
The University of Utah Athletics
Team Update #4
1/27/2010 12:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 27, 2010
Dear Tennis Friends,
Normally I try to write my email to you right after the match, but after such a thrilling match against Utah State I had no energy left in my bones to even think about it. It is matches like these that make coaches quite a bit older in a relatively short period of time. Getting the W certainly made the weekend a lot better.
Going into the match with Utah State we knew we had to be ready for a tough one. As I mentioned in an earlier email, USU has improved tremendously over the past year and they have added some really strong players. We struggled with them last year in our home opener (W, 5-2) and we knew this one was going to be tougher. With Dima on suspension it left us with very little options. We had questions on almost every position. Phillip Eilers played #1 singles against a guy he lost to the previous year, and is a tough match up for him. Benito lost his match last year as well and would now play one spot higher, at #2. At #3 we had a freshman, Alex Golding, playing. You don't always know what you are going to get out of freshman in his first college match. We decided to give our experienced players, Jason and Timmy a shot at #4 and #5.Since neither had played a lot in the fall due to injuries they would have to shake off some rust. And at #6 we posted Stephen Jacobs. Stephen has been with us for quite some time, but has seen most of his time in doubles.
USU came to our house to win and they made their intentions known in the doubles matches. We played very nervous and only won at #1 doubles. With our backs against the wall, this team came together and found a way to win. Some failed (Phil and Benito could not avenge their losses from last year) and others succeeded. As a team we won 4-3. But more importantly, the group came together and became a team. Many times it would have been easy to throw in the towel, but the support of our fans and of our teammates kept us in the match. With the team score at 3-3, it all came down to Stephen, who had just started his 3rd set. He kept his cool, executed the game plan and came away victorious.
We have to congratulate coach Wright and his Aggies for playing a tough and competitive match. From our side, we need to improve and play better than we did. Now that we have our first win under our belt, maybe we will settle down a little bit and play to our abilities. Beating the Aggies is nice, but it will only be a victory if we learn from this experience and improve as a team. We are 1-0, nothing more and nothing less. The road to reaching our goals is still long.
With that being said, I would like to thank all of you for coming out to our match. We had a spectacular turn out and a great competitive college atmosphere. Thank you for your support. We really couldn't have done this one without you!
NEXT UP: Next up for us is a trip to the National Indoor Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the first round we will play host team Tennessee. The Volunteers are ranked #5 in the country and are picked by many to go all the way this year. They have a great team from top to bottom and we will have to play really well to come up with an upset. Overall it will be a great experience to play in front of a hostile SEC crowd and against a national championship contender. Win or lose, we will play a second match against the winner/loser of the Virginia Commonwealth - South Carolina matchup. Both teams are nationally ranked in the top 50. First serve is Sunday, January 31, at 2pm ET.
Thanks again for all your support and I will keep you posted on our journey!
GO UTES,
Men's Tennis Coaching Staff
Players Mentioned
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