Utes Open Season at Northwestern Invitational

SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah women's tennis team will begin its fall season this Friday, Sept. 29 at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.

Competition is set to begin this Friday and run through Sunday, Oct. 1.

The Utes will be competing against 13 other teams. The teams that will be competing this weekend are host Northwestern, Marquette, Notre Dame, Montana, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Michigan State, Chicago State, DePaul, UIC, Kentucky, and Lewis.

On Friday, there is anticipated to be two rounds of doubles and one round of singles play. Saturday and Sunday will consist of one round each of doubles and singles.

Three Utes to compete at 2017 ITA All-American
Margo Pletcher, Brianna Turley and Alexia Petrovic will represent the Utes at the 2017 ITA All-American Championships. The tournament kicks off with prequalifying matches starting on Sept. 30, while the main draw runs Oct. 5-8, hosted by the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Pletcher is in the qualifying singles group with Petrovic in the pre-qualifying round. Pletcher won eight singles matches at the No. 1 spot, including a top-40 win over Arizona's Lauren Marker.

Petrovic went 11-7 in dual match play last season. She finished with wins over two top-40 opponents.

Pletcher and Turley will also compete in the main draw doubles. It is Pletcher and Turley's second consecutive year to compete in the main draw round as a doubles team. The pair won 11 matches together last season, including a big win over Ksenia Laskutova and Martina Okalova who played for No. 40 Tulsa.

Veteran Talent Leads the Way
The Utes return four seniors to the court this fall. Along with Petrovic and Pletcher, Jena Cheng, and Victoria Robertson join the duo.

Cheng, hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, finished the 2016-17 season with a 9-9 record. At the ITA Mountain Regionals Tournament, she teamed with junior Taylor Calton to defeat No. 15 Nuria Ormeno and Louise Ronaldson of Colorado. She also had

A San Diego, Calif. native, Robertson, paired with Petrovic last season to defeat Sofia Perez and Laura Falceto Font of FGCU, 6-3. She also had multiple individual wins over opponents from around the nation.

Pletcher Named All Pac-12
Last season, Utah's Pletcher earned Pac-12 honorable mention, marking the second-straight season Pletcher has earned postseason accolades from the conference. The junior played at the No. 1 singles position for the Utes, competing against some of the top players in the country.

Petrovic Honored by ITA
Petrovic was named the ITA Mountain Region Most Improved Player last season. The junior topped No. 38 Caroline Doyle of No. 6 Stanford, 3-6, 6-2, 10-8 and nationally-ranked Denise Starr of No. 13 California, 6-4, 6-1 in singles play this past season.

In doubles action, she won four matches with Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa and a pair with Whitney Turley. Teamed with the Brazilian senior, Petrovic knocked off Stephane Lin and Maria Smith of No. 13 California and Adriana Reami and Tayla Stenta of No. 30 North Carolina State

Welcome to Utah
Utah added two newcomers in freshman Jasmine Rich and sophomore transfer Leah Heimuli.

Local to Salt Lake City, Rich played in San Diego, Calif. for a season before transferring to East High School. She lettered one season at East High while finishing second in the state in singles her sophomore season.

BYU-Hawaii transfer Heimuli was named the ITA Rookie of the Year in 2017. She went 24-0 in singles and 19-0 in doubles play at BYU-Hawaii. She ended the season ranked No. 16 in the west region.

Experience is Key
Sophomore Whitney Turley and juniors Taylor Calton and Brianna Turley gained valuable experience last season.

Playing in her first season as a Ute, W. Turley came out on top against Arizona's Chypyha, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Pac-12 Championships. She also had three individual wins over Pac-12 competition; Ege Tomey of Washington State, Marie Wan Aelst of Arizona and Chloe Hule of Colorado.

Calton had a Pac-12 win over Melissa Ates of Washington State as well as three individual wins over non-conference opponents. She also teamed with Cheng to defeat Rachana Bhat and Andrew LeBlanc of New Mexico.

B.Turley had six wins with Pletcher in doubles play. With Pletcher, they defeated. No. 2-ranked Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr of Cal. Turley also defeated Pac-12 opponent Samantha Czarniak of Arizona on March 11.

Utah Finishes 10-11 Overall for the 2016-17 Season
Against Pac-12 competition, the Utes topped Arizona (4-3), Washington State (4-3) as well as Colorado (4-1). The Utes also defeated New Mexico (5-2), Wisconsin (4-0), BYU (6-1), Houston (7-0), Weber State (7-0) and Utah State (4-2).

The Utes won their conference tournament opener against Arizona, 4-2, but fell to eventual Champions Stanford.

Against Arizona, Calton teamed with Cheng to win their match, 6-2 and Turley paired with Gerstner Da Rosa for a 6-3 victory.

Whitney Turley took the second and third sets of her singles match, 6-4, 6-4 to seal a victory for her team. Petrovic topped Samantha Czarniak, 6-4, 6-2.

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Players Mentioned

Taylor Calton

Jena Cheng

Brianna Chisholm

Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa

Leah Heimuli

Whitney Hekking

Alexia Petrovic

Margo Pletcher

Jasmine Rich

Victoria Robertson

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus California on May 1, 2026 , Loss , 1, to, 4

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus #9 BYU on April 15, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus Arizona State on April 11, 2026 , Loss , 0, to, 4

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus Arizona on April 9, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4

Completed Event: Women's Tennis at Baylor on April 4, 2026 , Loss , 3, to, 4

Completed Event: Women's Tennis at TCU on April 2, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 3

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus Kansas State on March 28, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 1

Completed Event: Women's Tennis versus Oklahoma State on March 26, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 0

Completed Event: Women's Tennis at Colorado on March 21, 2026 , Win , 5, to, 1

The University of Utah Athletics