Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis versus ITA Regionals on October 15, 2025
Men's Tennis
vs ITA Regionals
Sunday, February 16
Albuquerque, NM
1:00 PM
University of Utah
3
at
4
New Mexico
Photo by: New Mexico Athletics
Utah Men's Tennis Falls 4-3 To New Mexico
2/16/2020 5:06 PM | Men's Tennis
Utes drop hard-fought match to wrap up road swing.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Utah men's tennis team dropped a road match on Sunday afternoon to the New Mexico Lobos, 3-4. Utah came up just short in the extremely competitive match that saw five-of-six singles matches pushed to a third set at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
Utah fell behind New Mexico after the Lobos managed to win the doubles point from wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Utah's top duo of Randy Cory and Russell Benkaim won their seventh-straight doubles match together to square away doubles, but the final win came from New Mexico's No. 3 pair to lead 1-0.
Azat Hankuliyev evened the match at 1-1 after the Ute senior registered Utah's first singles win. Hankuliyev dropped his first set, but bounced back 6-0, 6-2 to win the match. New Mexico regained control of the match from wins on courts five and four, extending the lead to 3-1.
Needing victories from the remaining courts, Benkaim pulled out a win in his three-set match to trail just 2-3 as a team. After little separation throughout his first two sets, Benkaim was able to acquire a 6-2 win in the third set on court two. New Mexico's top singles player battled Franco Capalbo on court one where Dominic West would come out victorious and clinch the 4-2 win for the Lobos. Capalbo won the first set, but West rallied for the comeback victory.
With the match clinched, Slava Shainyan finished his match in the No. 3 spot and went on to earn the third singles win of the day for Utah. Shainyan lost the second set 7-6 (13-11) in a tiebreak, but didn't let it rattle him as he went on to pick up the individual victory with a 6-2 third-set win.
Utah will return home to the Eccles Tennis Center for three matches next weekend. The Utes will open the weekend against Iowa on Friday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. MT. Then set for a pair of matches on Saturday, Utah will face Montana State at 10 a.m. MT, followed by a match against Southern Utah at 4 p.m. MT.
Utah 3, New Mexico 4
Singles (6,5,4,2,1,3)
1. Dominic West (NM) def. Franco Capalbo (UTAH) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Stepan Holis (NM) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Sergio Molina (NM) 6-4, 6-7 (11-13), 6-2
4. Raul Dobai (NM) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
5. Facundo Bermejo (NM) def. Wally Thayne (UTAH) 6-3, 7-5
6. Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Rafael Abdulsalam (NM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles (2,1,3)
1. Randy Cory/Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Jake Trondson/Raul Dobai (NM) 6-4
2. Sergio Molina/Dominic West (NM) def. Azat Hankuliyev/Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 6-1
3. Stepan Holis/Facundo Bermejo (NM) def. Franco Capalbo/Wally Thayne (UTAH) 6-4
Utah fell behind New Mexico after the Lobos managed to win the doubles point from wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Utah's top duo of Randy Cory and Russell Benkaim won their seventh-straight doubles match together to square away doubles, but the final win came from New Mexico's No. 3 pair to lead 1-0.
Azat Hankuliyev evened the match at 1-1 after the Ute senior registered Utah's first singles win. Hankuliyev dropped his first set, but bounced back 6-0, 6-2 to win the match. New Mexico regained control of the match from wins on courts five and four, extending the lead to 3-1.
Needing victories from the remaining courts, Benkaim pulled out a win in his three-set match to trail just 2-3 as a team. After little separation throughout his first two sets, Benkaim was able to acquire a 6-2 win in the third set on court two. New Mexico's top singles player battled Franco Capalbo on court one where Dominic West would come out victorious and clinch the 4-2 win for the Lobos. Capalbo won the first set, but West rallied for the comeback victory.
With the match clinched, Slava Shainyan finished his match in the No. 3 spot and went on to earn the third singles win of the day for Utah. Shainyan lost the second set 7-6 (13-11) in a tiebreak, but didn't let it rattle him as he went on to pick up the individual victory with a 6-2 third-set win.
Utah will return home to the Eccles Tennis Center for three matches next weekend. The Utes will open the weekend against Iowa on Friday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. MT. Then set for a pair of matches on Saturday, Utah will face Montana State at 10 a.m. MT, followed by a match against Southern Utah at 4 p.m. MT.
Utah 3, New Mexico 4
Singles (6,5,4,2,1,3)
1. Dominic West (NM) def. Franco Capalbo (UTAH) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Stepan Holis (NM) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Sergio Molina (NM) 6-4, 6-7 (11-13), 6-2
4. Raul Dobai (NM) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
5. Facundo Bermejo (NM) def. Wally Thayne (UTAH) 6-3, 7-5
6. Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Rafael Abdulsalam (NM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles (2,1,3)
1. Randy Cory/Russell Benkaim (UTAH) def. Jake Trondson/Raul Dobai (NM) 6-4
2. Sergio Molina/Dominic West (NM) def. Azat Hankuliyev/Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 6-1
3. Stepan Holis/Facundo Bermejo (NM) def. Franco Capalbo/Wally Thayne (UTAH) 6-4
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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