The U men’s tennis team continued its home dominance of opponents by defeating Idaho State 6-1 Wednesday night at the Eccles Tennis Center.
The win comes after a 12-day layoff for the Utes, who welcomed the time off with practices intended to iron out problem spots. The last time the Utes had a match was a 6-1 win over Cal-State Sacramento on March 15.
“We had a very constructive week of practice last week,” said Graeme Cox, U assistant coach. “Sometimes, in the middle of the season, little technical things start to slip. When you’ve got 12 days off to work on them, it really helps to bring them back around.”
The Utes make the double-digit win mark with this victory, with 10 wins against seven losses. The Bengals of ISU were no match for the Utes, as they fall to 1-10.
The Utes won the doubles point once again, and have yet to lose the doubles point at home. Tyler Poulson and Daniel Carlsson defeated Adam Krupp and Hestian Stoica 8-6, David Mercier and Jonathan Engelbrecht downed Vasico Devidze, and Butch Stavridis 8-2 and Corrie Scheepers and Daniel Lohff beat Mike Chester and Chris Sadek 8-2.
Scheepers got back to his winning ways, winning his first singles match since March 6 (against Robert Morris College), beating Devidze 6-1, 6-1.
“Some you win and some you lose. It’s just tennis,” Scheepers said. “I enjoyed it for the first time in a long time.” Scheepers said he had been battling personal issues back home in South Africa.
Poulson beat Krupp 7-5, 6-0. Tobias Tangberg also beat Sadek 6-0, 6-0. And Kiasorn Chaichana defeated Chester 6-1, 6-0.
In the marathon match of the evening, Carlsson beat Stoica 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, in a match that went over two hours long.
The only loss for the U came when Stavridis defeated Lohff 6-4, 6-4.
The U now prepares to head off to Ogden, Utah, where it will take on Weber State this Friday.
After that, the Utes head to New Mexico, where they will begin conference play against the Lobos and conference-leading Air Force.