The best team to come to Utah so far this season didn’t disappoint.
The No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish swept the No. 43 Utah women’s tennis team, 7-0 Sunday at the Eccles Tennis Center.
The 9-1 Irish won every match of the day in two sets except one.
Junior Erin Monson gave nationally ranked No. 82 Kristy Frilling a hard-fought match, taking Frilling to four sets where she eventually won, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3 and 10-5. Although Notre Dame had already won the match by then, Monson and Frilling’s exciting match came down to a 10-point super tiebreaker, from which Frilling emerged victorious, 10-5.
“Today we were beaten by a top five ranked team,” said head coach Mat Iandolo in a statement. “We are clearly better in some spots than we showed this afternoon. We’ll learn from this and improve on some things throughout the coming matches.”
Monson’s day didn’t start off any easier than her matchup with Frilling.
Monson, alongside fellow junior Andrea Maughan, took on the No. 2 duo of Kali Krisik and Kelcy Tefft, 8-2.
Despite the loss, the Utes are ranked the highest they have been since 1996, when they had an ITA rank of No. 41. The Utes (3-4) now prepare for No. 49 UNLV coming to town March 1.
The Utah men’s tennis team was coming off two home victories that featured sweeps of Idaho State and Northern Arizona, and the team looked ready to turn the corner after a couple tough losses.
A trip to sunny Southern California didn’t help.
The No. 68 Utes fell to No. 61 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 5-2, on Friday.
Utah (5-3) came out of the gates armed and ready as the tandem of Wes Hancock and Phillip Eilers got the Utes their first win of the day after besting the Gaucho duo of Alex Konigsfeldt and Josh Finkelstein, 9-8.
The doubles success rolled on as junior Timmy Allin and true freshman John Taylor won the second doubles matchup of the day easily, 8-3.