Men's Tennis Defeats Marquette and Montana

Saturday, February 23

Salt Lake City, UT

12:00 PM

University of Utah

Marquette

Photo by: Steve Wilson

2/23/2019 8:35 PM | Men's Tennis

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah men's tennis team came away with two victories today, first defeating Marquette with a score of 6-1, followed by a competitive 4-3 victory over Montana. With these two wins, the Utes will now move to an overall record of 10-3.

"Glad we survived," said head coach Roeland Brateanu. "We have guys who were injured and guys who were sick and we were able to play through a lot today, I'm just glad that we got the two wins. We didn't play great but we beat two good teams, hopefully we can take these few days to get better and prepare for the two teams we play next week."

Starting the day off strong, the Utes were able to earn the doubles point against Marquette. The first victory came from Dan Little and Azat Hankuliyev on Court No. 2, as they were able to down Greg Anderson and Luis Heredia Gomez with a score of 6-4. Russell Benkaim and Mathias Gavelin then sealed the doubles point with a win at the No. 3 position over Luke Smrek and Fran San Adres, with a final score of 6-4.

In singles, Little, Slava Shainyan, Hankuliyev, and Benkaim all won in straight sets for the Utes, as they were able to take a 5-0 lead. After dropping the first set, David Micevski then came back against Luke Smrek at the No. 1 spot, for a 6-7, 6-2, 10-8 victory.

Later in the day against Montana, the Utes were able to take an early lead as they were able to earn the doubles point. On the No. 2 court, Little and Hankuliyev got things started with a quick 6-1 victory against Ludvig and Pontus Hallgren. Then at the No. 1 position, Micevski and Shainyan secured the point against Alex Canellopoulos and Ed Pudney, winning 6-4.

In singles, Micevski kept things rolling at the No. 1 spot with a quick 6-2, 6-3 win over Alex Canellopoulos. Benkaim followed shortly after with a win of his own to put the Utes up 3-0 on the No. 3 court, topping Max Korkh with a final score of 6-3, 6-4. Montana then won the matches on courts 4, 5, and 6 to tie things up at 3-3. To then seal the victory, Shainyan provided the final win needed at the No. 2 position against Ludvig Hallgren in three sets, 7-6, 5-7, 6-0, to give the Utes the 4-3 victory over Montana.

The University of Utah men's tennis team will be back in action next week for two home matches at the Eccles Tennis Center. They are first set to take on Old Dominion on Friday, March 1^st, at 5 p.m. MT, followed by a match against Denver on Sunday, March 3^rd, at 12 p.m. MT.

Utah 6, Marquette 1

Doubles (2,3)
Micevski/Shainyan (UTAH) Verdu/Meyers (MARQ), 6-6, unf.
Little/Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Anderson/Heredia Gomez (MARQ), 6-4
Benkaim/Gavelin (UTAH) def. Smrek/San Andres (MARQ), 6-4

Singles (1,3,6,4,2,5)
Dan Little (UTAH) def. Alvaro Verdu (MARQ), 6-1, 6-3
David Micevski (UTAH) def. Luke Smrek (MARQ), 6-7, 6-2, 10-8
Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Luis Heredia Gomez (MARQ), 6-4, 6-4
Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Brett Meyers (MARQ), 7-6, 6-3
Greg Anderson (MARQ) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH), 7-6, 4-6, 10-7
Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Brandon Shanklin (MARQ), 7-5, 6-2

Utah 4, Montana 3

Doubles (2,1,4)
Shainyan/Micesvki (UTAH) def. Canellopoulos/Pudney (MONT), 6-4
Hankuliyev/Little (UTAH) def. Hallgren/Hallgren (MONT), 6-1
Gavelin/Benkaim (UTAH) Korkh/Shaffrey (MONT), 5-5, unf.

Singles (1,3,4,6,5,2)
David Micevski (UTAH) def. Alex Canellopoulos (MONT), 6-2, 6-3
Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Ludvig Hallgren (MONT), 7-6, 5-7, 6-0
Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Max Korkh (MONT), 6-3, 6-4
Ed Pudney (MONT) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH), 6-4, 7-6
Oisin Shaffrey (MONT) def. Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH), 5-7, 7-5, 6-0
Pontus Hallgren (MONT) def. Chase Stoner (UTAH), 6-1, 7-6