Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis versus Utah Invitational on October 3, 2025
Men's Tennis
vs Utah Invitational
Sunday, October 13
Salt Lake City, UT
All Day
University of Utah
vs
Utah Invitational
Photo by: Clare Mullin
Men's Tennis Concludes Action at Utah Invitational
10/13/2019 4:16 PM | Men's Tennis
Benkaim and Hankuliyev win respective singles flights, while Benkaim and McCallie win their doubles group.
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah men's tennis team concluded action at the Utah Invitational on Sunday. The Utes had key wins in both singles and doubles to close out the first fall event of the season.
"This was the perfect way for us to start the year," said head coach Roeland Brateanu. "We just started practicing this week, so it was great for us to come out and play like we did. We played a lot of matches and we have a lot of data to analyze from this weekend. We're going to take this same energy to regionals next week and do the same thing there. Then, we can really go to work after that."
In doubles, Russell Benkaim and Paul McCallie continued their dominance as a duo, going undefeated in the tournament in doubles action to win the 'Drum & Feather' flight. In their final doubles match, they faced off against teammates Azat Hakuliyev and Mathias Gavelin, as Benkaim and McCallie rolled to a 6-1 victory.
The duo of Rafael Grovas and Rian Ta also competed in doubles action today, dropping a competitive match against Montiero and Wood from Montana State. The teams went back-and-forth the entire match, but the Utes ultimately fell, 6-7.
In singles, both Benkaim and Hankuliyev captured the title in their respective brackets, both going undefeated on the weekend in singles. Benkaim won the 'Red' group, defeating Southern Utah's McCaig in his final match, coming out on top with a score of 6-2, 6-4. Hankuliyev was able to take the 'White' flight, beating out Erro from Southern Utah, 6-4, 6-3, to finish out with a perfect singles record in the round robin tournament.
Gavelin also carded a victory in his final match of the weekend as he played against Parker from Southern Utah, finishing with a score of 6-2, 6-4.
McCallie faced off against Shin from Southern Utah in his singles match today and fell short in a tough three-set battle. McCallie dropped the first set, 3-6, but bounced back in the second, 6-4. The third set proved to be as competitive as the rest and McCallie came up just short, 5-7.
Freshman Rafael Grovas matched up against Ortega from Sothern Utah in his first match, in which Grovas fell short with a score of 5-7, 1-6. To end the day, Grovas then played against Stoner from Montana State, winning the first set 6-4, but then falling in the final two sets to Stoner 2-6, 3-6.
The Utah men's tennis team will be back in action next week, as they will compete in the ITA Regionals. The ITA Regionals will be held in Denver with competition taking place from Oct. 16– 20.
Utah Invitational – Day 3 Results
Doubles
Russell Benkaim/Paul McCallie (UU) def. Azat Hankuliyev/ Mathias Gavelin (UU), 6-1
Montiero/Wood (MSU) def. Rafael Grovas/Rian Ta (UU), 7-6
Singles
Mathias Gavelin (UU) def. Parker (SUU), 6-2, 6-4
Russell Benkaim (UU) def. McCaig (SUU), 6-2, 6-1
Azat Hankuliyev (UU) def. Erro (SUU), 6-4, 6-3
Ortega (SUU) def. Rafael Grovas (UU), 7-5, 6-1
Shin (SUU) def. Paul McCallie (UU), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
Rian Ta (UU) def. Tordoff (SUU), W.O.
Stoner (MSU) def. Rafael Grovas (UU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
Players Mentioned
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