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 #5
2/4/2010 12:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 4, 2010
Dear Tennis Friends,
After a trip cross country and a night's rest I am ready to update you on our matches last weekend. Due to our great performances last year, we were invited back this year to the National Indoor Championships. It brought us to Knoxville, TN to play a very strong University of Tennessee team in the first round. This presented a great learning opportunity for our team, a chance to play in a great place and play a match without any pressure.
UT is currently ranked #5 in the country and just added 2 of the top 10 juniors in the world to their program this past January. So, with their new additions and their experience and great coaching it will surprise me if they do not win the NCAA championship this year. This should have given our players even more of a reason to go out and play with nothing to lose. Unfortunately, we didn't take advantage of this opportunity and did not compete with that frame of mind. Instead we appeared timid and scared and didn't play to our potential because of that.
Playing against a great team, it was our goal to start strong, similar to the way our football started against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. It was our incentive to try to smack them in the mouth and shake their confidence from the start. Unfortunately we fell behind quick and lost confidence, while theirs sky rocketed. When playing good players/teams you simply cannot give them any breathing room, and when you do, things can be over very quickly. And that is what happened to us in this match.
After a difficult loss Sunday to Tennessee, we got an opportunity to wash it all away against VCU, a regular in the NCAA Championships and usually a top-30 contender. Unfortunately, we failed to start strong and for the third straight match we lost the doubles point. We are now 0-3 in doubles this year, something we usually pride ourselves in. Getting a good start against good teams is crucial and so we came to find out later in the match. Although we fought better than the previous day, we still came up short.
Needless to say, FD and I were disappointed by our results this weekend and I can only hope that our team feels the same way. That being said, there once was a great athlete named Michael Jordan who said: "I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." Fair to say that this guy ended up fairly successful and I can only hope that we will learn from our failures this weekend and improve on them. Failure is probably the best way to learn, but it sure isn't fun. The good thing is that it can only get better from here on out.
NEXT UP: This Sunday we will play a very strong UC Santa Barbara squad. The Gauchos have been a tough match-up for us these past two years, beating us both times. They are the last team to have beaten us at home, nearly two years ago. They just lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to defending national champion and current #1, USC. They will also look for some revenge and hope to continue their winning ways against us. With Dima back on the team from his suspension and Artem recovering from a stomach bug, we hope to have a healthy and feisty team for this great match. First serve will be Sunday, February 7, at 11am at the Eccles Tennis Center.
Hope to see all of you out there! It should be a good one.
Thanks and GO UTES,
Men's Tennis Coaching Staff
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