Utes Bow Out of Pac-12 Championships

Wednesday, April 25

Ojai, CA

1:00 PM

University of Utah

Arizona

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

4/25/2018 6:44 PM | Men's Tennis

Utah beaten by Arizona, 4-2

OJAI, Calif. – Utah lost to Arizona, 4-2, on the first day of the 2018 Pac-12 Men's Tennis Tournament. The Utes took the doubles point to grab an early lead before dropping four of five singles matches.

The Utah pairings of Russell Benkaim and Randy Cory, as well as Joe Woolley and Egbert Weverink, each won their doubles matches by identical 6-4 scores to grab an early edge.

Singles play started well for the Utes as Randy Cory rolled past Jonas Maier, 6-1, 7-5 to give his team a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived. Filip Malbasic defeated senior Egbert Weverink, 6-3, 6-2 and Aaron Pollanen evened the match with a 6-2, 6-3 win over David Micevski.

It was another straight-set loss on the main court as Dan Little was knocked off by Igor Karpovets, 6-4, 6-4. Despite falling behind, 3-2, Utah still had cause for optimism with leads on the final two courts.

Despite early advantages, the Utes surrendered leads on courts No. 6 and No. 3. Slava Shainyan lost the second set of his match and trailed 5-2 in the third frame. However, he rallied and was serving to tie the set, before ultimately bowing out to Trent Botha, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Utah will now await its fate as to whether or not it will qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Utes closed the regular season with a No. 38 national ranking and 19-9 overall record.

Results
Singles
Igor Karpovets (ARIZ) def. Dan Little (UTAH) 6-4, 6-4
Aaro Pollanen (ARIZ) def. David Micevski (UTAH) 6-2, 6-3
Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) vs. Santiago Sierra (UTAH) 4-6, 6-4, 2-2, unf.
Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) def. Egbert Weverink (UTAH) 6-3, 6-2
Randy Cory (UTAH) def. Jonas Maier (ARIZ) 6-1, 7-5
Trent Botha (ARIZ) def. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Order: 5,4,2,1,6

Doubles
Russell Benkaim/Randy Cory (UTAH) def. Igor Karpovets/Aaro Pollanen (ARIZ) 6-4
Joe Woolley/Egbert Weverink (UTAH) def. Jonas Maier/Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) 6-4
Carlos Hassey/Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) vs. Dan Little/Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) 4-4, unf.