After capturing the Utah Intercollegiate Tournament title for the second year in a row and a strong showing at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships, the Utes are looking ahead to the future.
“We are excited to get the fall part of the season over,” said head coach F.D. Robbins. “The focus is on the dual matches, and we’re getting ready to do that. We are experimenting with doubles teams right now. We have a couple new guys coming in in January, so we have to see where they fit in.”
Junior Slim Hamza and senior Ben Tasevac stepped up during the Utah Intercollegiate Tournament. In the Red Draw, Hamza took the championship title by beating BYU’s Francis Sargeant in the final match, 6-4. Tasevac clinched third place by beating the Cougars’ Andrey Goryachkov, 6-3, 7-6(3).
In the Black Draw, senior Devin Lane, playing his first tournament since his injury, placed second, falling to senior Alejandro Medinilla, 7-6(8), 7-5. Medinilla and Tasevac teamed up in Group B to defeat Matt Pearce and Jeremy Bourgeois of BYU, 8-7(4). Juniors Cameron Lee and Cedric Willems captured third after beating BYU’s Jacob Sullivan and Sterling Galli, 8-3.
“Overall we are playing a little better,” said Robbins. “We got some things to work on … Regionals, the competition was a little tougher than at our tournament. Seventeen teams were represented from our region, and all of those teams have some really good players. It’s good you get a chance to play someone besides the local schools.”
At the ITA Mountain Regional Championships, Hamza finished highest individually for the Utes when Henry Craig of Denver, who then went on to win the tournament, defeated him.
“I could have done better, [Craig] was more ready than I was,” said Hamza. “We played a lot of good players, and I think we need to keep working hard to get ready for the season.”
Although Hamza was seeded third and Craig was seeded ninth, early matchups determined the pace of the tournament.
“It all depends on the luck of the draw,” said Robbins. “If you play a really good guy early, you probably will be in the back draw.”
The doubles team of Lee and Willems lost in the semifinal round. Willems made it to the semifinals of the singles consolation draw.
Medinilla fell to UNLV’s Denys Pume in the third round of the consolation draw.
Utah’s Justin Archer teamed up with Abe Hewko of Boise State in the doubles consolation draw. They lost to James Hignett and Sam Iftikhar of New Mexico, 8-7(3).
“We got a good group of guys, they’re hard workers,” said Robbins. “If you work hard, you can make things happen.”