Utah Men's Tennis Set for Pair of Matches Thursday To Open 2020 Season

Thursday, January 16

Salt Lake City, UT

12:00 PM

University of Utah

Idaho

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

Utah Men's Tennis Set for Pair of Matches Thursday To Open 2020 Season

1/13/2020 3:24 PM | Men's Tennis

Utes to host Idaho and Weber State for first matches of the season.

FIRST SERVE
The University of Utah men's tennis team is set to open the 2020 spring season this Thursday, Jan. 16 with a pair of matches at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. Utah will open the day against Idaho at 12 p.m. MT, followed by another match at 5 p.m. MT against Weber State. A live stream of the matches can be found here.

FROM THE FALL
The Utes opened fall play hosting the Utah Invitational where many Utes had dominant performances to open the year. Russell Benkaim and Paul McCallie went undefeated in doubles during the tournament and would win their flight by knocking off a pair of teammates in the championship match. Benkaim and Azat Hankuliyev also went undefeated in singles play to capture the title in their respective singles flights. At the ITA Regionals in mid-October, Benkaim continued his fall success as he advanced to the semifinal round in the singles main draw following four-straight wins.

In the final tournament of the fall, Utah competed in the LMU Invitational and faced off against opponents from Loyola Marymount, Utah State, and UC Irvine at the three-day event. Slava Shainyan saw his first action of the fall at the LMU Invite and picked up a pair of wins to highlight his tournament. McCallie also earned two wins in Los Angeles, while Rafael Grovas and Randy Cory won 2-of-3 doubles matches.

2019 IN REVIEW
The Utah men's tennis team closed out the decade by earning a spot in the 2019 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships for the second-straight year under the helm of head coach Roeland Brateanu after the team had not previously qualified since the 1997 season. Utah finished the season 17-12 overall and ranked No. 42 in the final ITA poll, while earning a No. 1 Mountain Region ranking in the final poll. The Utes picked up four wins over ranked opponents last season, including a win over No. 12 Stanford on Senior Day.

Brateanu was tabbed as the ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year for the third straight season. Slava Shainyan played a key role for the Utes last season mostly as the No. 3 singles player and was a member of the top doubles team for Utah. Russell Benkaim and Mathias Gavelin were also key contributors to Utah's success from a year ago, spending the majority of the season in the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, respectively.

NOTABLE NEWCOMERS
Utah has welcomed four newcomers to the program. Joining in the fall, Rafael Grovas was a four-star recruit and held the No. 1 junior ranking in Puerto Rico. He was ranked as high as No. 405 in the ITF Junior World Rankings and represented his home country of Puerto Rico twice in the Davis Cup. Also in Salt Lake City for the fall, Rian Ta joined Utah as a four-star recruit from Fremont, Calif. He was ranked as high as No. 2 in Northern California in doubles play and was one of the top juniors in the USTA NorCal section.

Arriving to campus in time for the spring season were Franco Capalbo and Wally Thayne. Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Capalbo was ranked as high as No. 802 in singles and No. 529 in doubles in the ATP World Tour Rankings. Capalbo also climbed as high as No. 15 in the Junior ITF World Rankings. Thayne is a high school All-American and a four-star recruit who holds a No. 73 recruiting rank from Newbury Park, Calif. He has held the No. 1 ranking in the SoCal Boys' 18's and was ranked on the ATP Doubles Tour at the time of his commitment.

SCOUTING IDAHO
The University of Idaho men's tennis team is coming off of a 5-15 overall record from the 2018-19 season. The Vandals are led by seniors Esteban Santibanez and Guilherme Scarpelli, who are the team's top returners. Santibanez was able to earn 13 wins in singles last season, along with 10 wins in doubles which would earn Big Sky Doubles Honorable Mention honors. Scarpelli totaled 21 wins for the Vandals, posting a team high of 14 wins in the spring and held a 9-2 record in Big Sky play for singles. The last time Utah matched up with Idaho in the regular season was back in February of 2009. Utah won the tight match 4-3 over Idaho.

SCOUTING WEBER STATE
Weber State is coming off of a season-opening 5-2 win against Grand Canyon to start their season 1-0. In 2019, the Wildcats were 4-17 overall, while going 2-8 in Big Sky Conference Play. Weber State's Kris Van Wyk leads the team as the top singles player. As a junior in 2019, he produced a total of 15 wins in singles, playing primarily at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in singles. Last season, Utah and Weber State faced off in the second weekend of the season and the Utes claimed a dominant 6-1 victory over the Wildcats.

UP NEXT
The Utah men's tennis team will prep for its first matches on the road as they will travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the ITA Kickoff. The Utes will start things off with a match against Tulsa at 11 a.m. MT on Saturday, Jan. 25. Utah will face either Ohio State or Purdue based on the previous matches' results. The second match for the Utes at the ITA Kickoff will take place on Sunday, Jan. 26.