Utes sweep Trailblazers in double header

Friday, January 20

St. George, UT

10:00 AM

University of Utah

Utah Tech

Photo Credit: Bailey Chamberlain - Utah Tech Athletics

1/20/2023 6:52 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ST. GEORGE, Utah - The University of Utah women's tennis team earned its first two wins of the season against Utah Tech in the season opener Friday afternoon. The Utes defeated the Trailblazers 7-0 and 5-0 in the doubleheader.

"It was a really positive first day for our team," said head coach Ric Mortera. "I was really happy with how we competed and executed our game plans. I am excited for our freshmen and Samantha (Horwood) to have gotten their first dual match wins. They have shown a lot of growth in their young careers and I am looking forward to seeing how they continue to grow. Also a good day for our veterans, a couple of whom had their first matches in a while and had a solid day to build off of. We look forward to getting back home and back to training tomorrow in preparation for our home opener Sunday."

Utah 7, Utah Tech 0
The Utes kicked off the season capturing the doubles point advantage. Katya Hersh and Samantha Horwood teamed up in second doubles to clinch their first spring win against the Trailblazers, Ya-Chi Hsu and Adithi Venkatakrishnan, 6-3. In their Utah debut, freshmen Kaila Barksdale and Marcela Lopez clinched the doubles point for the Utes in the No. 3 spot by taking down the Utah Tech duo of Alysha Damron and Cami Oyama, 6-1. Utah almost swept in doubles but Katya Townsend and Anastasia Goncharova were narrowly defeated at No.1 in tiebreakers, 7(7)-6(3), by Rachel Mellor and Annemiek Sterk.

Townsend went head-to-head with Mellor in singles once again and was able to claim victory, 6-4, 6-2. In second singles, Madison Tattini defeated Hsu in a 10-point tiebreaker, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8. Barksdale kept her win streak going with another favorable result over Venkatakrishnan, 6-2, 6-0. Goncharova clinched her match against Sterk, 6-3, 6-3. Lopez went 6-0 in both sets against Damron, earning the Utes another point. In the last match of the morning, Horwood defeated Utah Tech player, Raquel Roshak, 6-0, 6-1.

Utah 5, Utah Tech 0
Utah opened the second match strong and won all three of their doubles matches. Lopez and Hersh defeated their opponents, 6-1, Horwood and Townsend clinched their match 6-0, and Tattini and Goncharova closed out doubles with their victory, 6-2.

Barksdale won her second singles match of the day, 6-0, 6-1. With a matching score, Lopez finished her day off with another victory. Following closely behind her, Goncharova bested her opponent, 6-0, 6-2. Hersh claimed Utah's last point, 6-0, 6-3, to end the day.

Up Next
Utah women's tennis is headed back home for their match against Idaho State on Sunday, Jan 22 at 1 p.m.