It’s a balmy Sunday afternoon in mid-April. Gray skies lay across the Salt Lake Valley and wash over the Eccles Tennis Center, nestled against the Wasatch Front. On one of the courts at the center, senior Matt Cowley is locked in a singles match with Mackenzie McDonald of UCLA. Opposite Cowley, on the court adjacent, is his doubles partner, freshman Dan Little.
Little hails from London, England, while Cowley is a Salt Lake City native.
“They’re different in every aspect on the tennis court,” said head coach Roeland Brateanu. “Matt is an offensive-minded, server-volley player. With Dan, it’s completely the opposite. He still has to learn how to volley, but he’s a really good baseliner. I think that’s why they work well in doubles. Dan is making a lot of returns and putting Matt in position at net to make something happen.”
While the Cowley and Little pair has not played together for long, due to an injury which sidelined Little for much of the early part of the season, the two have come far since teaming up in late February.
At the beginning of the year, Cowley was paired with Egbert Weverink. The duo seemed like a good fit on paper, but on the court it was a different story. The two didn’t really seem to gel together as much as Brateanu had hoped. However, in not achieving something Brateanu had his sights set on, the team wound up with something ever better.
“It was a long time before we came to the pairing,” Brateanu said. “[Cowley and Little] they’re pretty laid back personalities, I think they understand each other that way.”
Before his college career at Utah began, Cowley earned the top spot in all of U18 singles in Utah at Woods Cross High School. At Utah, Cowley has made his living with his vicious volley and keen awareness of ball placement.
Halfway across the world, freshman Little made a name for himself at Ralph Allen School, where he earned a National Championship once and runner-up honors twice. Coming to Utah, he faced an adjustment not just from of the shock of living in a different country, but also on the court, as he had to learn to play alongside Cowley.
“I always knew that the ideal partner for me would be someone who plays just like Matt,” Little said. “He’s really comfortable at the net. I needed someone like Matt. He knows so much more about doubles than I do, he knows all the positioning and the net play, which is kind of why we complement each other.”
While the two work well with each other because of their differences on the court, off the court they’re cut from the same cloth, which is all part of the natural chemistry Little and Cowley share behind the net. With just two games left in conference play, Cowley and Little are looking to parlay their play together into a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament.
“We have more similarities than differences, I think,” Cowley said. “Tennis brings us together and we connect in a way that you can understand. We really thrive in our similarities.”
@WestinJay