SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah men's tennis team will be back in action this Saturday to host two matches at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center. The first match will be against the University of the Pacific (1-4), with play set to start at 2 p.m. against the Tigers. Later in the day, the Utes will face off with Northern Arizona (1-0) at 7 p.m. to wrap up competition for the weekend.
Utah Notes
The Utah men's tennis team is coming off a weekend on the road, as they traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to participate in the Harvard Kick-Off. During the first day of the tournament, the Utes defeated Wichita State with a final score of 5-2. The Utes fell behind early, losing the doubles point to the Shockers.
Randy Cory and
Russell Benkaim were the only doubles team to get a victory, edging out Miroslav Herzan and Andrea Caligiana at the No. 2 spot with a final score of 6-4. In singles, the Utes bounced back with an early win by
Dan Little, 6-3, 6-4 over Marius Frosa at the No. 2 position.
Egbert Weverink followed, moving past Murkel Dellien with a score of 6-4, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot. On the No. 4 court,
Slava Shainyan came back from being down a set to defeat Eddie Stocia 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. To seal the win,
David Micevski finished things up at the No. 1 position, coming away with a victory of 6-1, 7-6.
Santiago Sierra finished things up by adding a victory of his own against Miroslav Herzan with a score of 7-6, 6-4, at the No. 6 position. The Utes then advanced to the tournament finals, where they faced tournament host Harvard, falling short to the Crimson with a score of 5-2. In doubles play,
Randy Cory and
Russell Benkaim were the only pair to come away with a win for the Utes as the Crimson won the double's point. Cory and Benkaim remained dominant at the No. 2 position, defeating Jean Thirouin and Andy Zhou with a final score of 6-2. Two Utes were able to come away with wins in singles play, with
Dan Little staying strong at the No. 2 spot defeating Jean Thirouin with a score of 7-5, 3-4, ret.
Santiago Sierra came up with the final win for the men's tennis team on the No. 6 court, edging out Harvard's Constatin Zoske in a competition match with a final score of 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Opponent Notes
The University of the Pacific is coming off of a loss to the University of Washington. After securing the doubles point and starting ahead 1-0, the Pacific men's tennis team fell to the Washington Huskies, 6-1. The Tigers started off strong with Mikayel Khachatryan and Ross Watson taking their doubles point 6-3 and No. 57 Akram El Sallaly and Bernardo Oliveira winning their match 7-5 to grab a 1-0 lead. Then in singles, the tigers struggled by dropping all of their matches, with the University of Washington completing the comeback and victory.
The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks are coming off of their season opener against the University of New Mexico. For the first time in seven years the Northern Arizona men's tennis team started the 2018 campaign with a season-opening victory. The Lumberjacks defeated the University of New Mexico with a final score of 4-3 on the road. Northern Arizona fell behind early by dropping the doubles point to New Mexico, but mounted a comeback in singles play. The Lumberjacks came back to tie the match 1-1 in singles with Sebastian Eguez's 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 5 position. The two regional opponents went back and forth before the 'Jacks took the lead after a 7-5, 6-4 win from Handel and a 7-6(4), 6-3 win from Fisher to put the score at 3-2. Ruben Montano would then seal the victory for Northern Arizona at the No. 6 position, defeating New Mexico's Sean Baklini with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.