SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah women's tennis team will be back in action this week for three matches on the road, with two of them being Pac-12 conference matches. The Utes will first face off against UC Davis (10-3) on Thursday, followed by a match on Friday against Stanford (6-3) and then wrapping up their weekend with a match against Cal (5-5) on Saturday.
Match Information vs. UC Davis
Date: Thursday, March 15
th
Time: 3:00 p.m. MST
Results: Will be posted to
http://utahutes.com/index.aspx?path=wten following the match
Match Information vs. Stanford
Date: Friday, March 16
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Time: 2:30 p.m. MST
Live Stream: http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/
Results: Will be posted to
http://utahutes.com/index.aspx?path=wten following the match
Match Information vs. Cal
Date: Saturday, March 17
th
Time: 1:00 p.m. MST
Live Stream: http://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208195810.aspx
Results: Will be posted to
http://utahutes.com/index.aspx?path=wten following the match
"We are looking forward to our first Pac-12 road trip," said head coach
Mat Iandolo. "Playing three tough matches and measuring ourselves against two of the traditional powers of college tennis."
Utah Notes
The University of Utah women's tennis team earned their first conference win of the season this past Sunday against Arizona, defeating the Wildcats with a score of 5-2. With this win the Utes moved to an overall record of 8-5, with a record of 1-1 in Pac-12 play. The Utes started the day off by earning the doubles point against Arizona.
Brianna Chisholm and
Victoria Robertson recorded the first victory, edging out Gitte Heynemans and Sophia Thomas with a score of 7-5 on the No. 3 court.
Alexia Petrovic and
Jena Cheng then finished things off with a win at the No. 1 spot, defeating Arizona's Mary Lewis and Marie Van Aelst with a final score of 6-4. In singles,
Taylor Calton got things started on the No. 4 court against Gitte Heynemans, earning the victory for the Utes with a score of 6-2, 6-0. Robertson then pitched in a win of her own at the No. 6 position over Sophia Thomas, scoring 6-1, 6-2.
Whitney Turley then followed with a victory at the No. 5 spot, defeating Arizona's Talya Zandberg with a score of 6-4, 6-2, to seal the win over the Wildcats for the Utes. Petrovic recorded the final win of the day for the Utah women's tennis team, defeating Mary Lewis in a very competitive match at the No. 1 spot, scoring 7-5, 6-4.
Opponent Notes
The UC Davis Aggies are coming off of a 6-1 victory over conference opponent UC Riverside this past Sunday. In the afternoon matchup with UC Riverside, both coaches agreed upon playing the singles matches first due to potential time constraints. Sophomore Kristina Breisacher and junior Isabella von Ebbe got the first two of five Aggie singles victories after defeating the Highlander's Tia Elpusan and Tracy Van in straight-sets, respectively, while freshman Sara Tsukamoto followed right behind with a straight-set win of her own over Lauren Wolfe. Senior Lani-Rae Green officially clinched the team win for UC Davis after garnering a straight-set victory of her own over the Highlander's Sara Khattab, 7-5, 6-3; however, both teams continued to play the rest of the matches out. Following Green's matchup, UC Riverside's Karla Dulay pushed through to get a point for her team after getting a match win at the No. 1 position, but sophomore Nikita Pradeep rounded out singles play with a three-set win over her opponent at the No. 4 spot, bringing the UC Davis score to five. Although the Aggies already secured the dual win, the teams still played out the doubles matches. The visiting team finished the match with six points after sealing the doubles point from their No. 2 and No 3 position wins. UC Davis partners Shirley Hall and Tsukamoto got the first doubles wins, while von Ebbe and Kelsie Bryant sealed the doubles point after getting a 6-4 win over Highlander duo Wolfe and Tamilla Vaksman.
The Stanford Cardinal were ranked No. 46 in the nation coming into last Saturday's match against No. 47 USC, in which they defeated the Trojans with a score of 4-0. Kimberly Yee defeated Alexa Corcoleotes 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 6 position, providing the clinching point for the first time in her career. Stanford (6-3, 2-0 Pac-12) won back-to-back matches for only the second time this season, following up yesterday's 4-3 win over No. 13 UCLA. These two matches carried added significance, as Stanford entered the weekend winless in its first two attempts against ranked opponents. The Cardinal is bidding to win three straight conference titles for the first time since 2010-12. Last year, Stanford finished 10-0 in league play and captured the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament title one week after claiming the regular-season crown outright. Stanford, which is navigating through a nine-match homestand, has now won 41 of its last 44 contests at Taube Family Tennis Stadium dating back to 2015. After securing the doubles point for a 1-0 lead, Stanford received convincing victories from Janice Shin (6-1, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot) and Michaela Gordon (6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 position). Yee followed with her sixth win of the season for the clincher.
The Cal Bears were ranked No. 22 in the nation coming into last Saturday's match against No. 8 UCLA, in which they suffered a loss to the Bruins with a score of 4-3. Julia Rosenqvist posted another upset victory, Cal added an upset win in doubles and Vivian Glozman got her second straight singles win in a dual match, but it wasn't enough as No. 8 UCLA topped No. 22 Cal, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Bruins clinched when 41st-ranked Jada Hart upset 35th-ranked Cal freshman Anna Bright, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, at court-two singles to give UCLA a 4-2 lead. With Cal freshman Vivian Glozman leading Ayan Broomfield, 1-6, 7-6(4), 3-0, on court five at the time, Broomfield retired with an injury to make the final score 4-3. Rosenqvist, a freshman ranked 68th, defeated the eighth-ranked Ena Shibahara, 6-3, 6-4, on court one to give the Swede four consecutive upset wins in singles. Those upsets included her Friday win over USC's 37th-ranked Gabby Smith, her March 3 win over then-No. 13 Ashley Lahey of Pepperdine, and a Feb. 24 win over then-No. 73 Terri Fleming of the Bruins. In doubles on Saturday, the Cal pair of Rosenqvist and junior Olivia Hauger upset the 22nd-ranked duo of Hart and Fleming, 6-4, on court one. But the Bruins clinched the point when Broomfield and Abi Altick beat Glozman and freshman Anna Bright 7-6(5), on court two.