The Utah men’s tennis team moved to 0-2 in Pac-12 action after losing to No. 16 Cal on Sunday.
The Utes took an early 2-0 lead but struggled in singles and ultimately fell 4-2.
Utah opened the day by winning the doubles point. The Utes’ No. 1 doubles team, Slim Hamza and Cedric Willems, got the most impressive victory of the day when they beat Ben McLachlan and Andre Goransson 8-4. That pair was ranked No. 67 in the nation entering the matchup. Alejandro Medinilla and Matt Cowley sealed the deal in doubles when they won out of the third doubles spot, 8-6.
“We started off really well in doubles. All of the teams competed really hard,” Willems said. “We showed a lot of emotions in doubles.”
The 52nd-ranked Utes were able to keep the momentum going into singles play for a time, as they took four first sets. One of those four was Willems, who was able to get a quick victory 6-3,6-4. He was the lone winner for Utah in singles as the wheels came off for F.D. Robbins’ squad.
“Cedric showed great intensity, whereas the rest of the guys couldn’t maintain that level of intensity to the end of the match,” said assistant coach Roeland Brateanu.
The Utes’ first loss in singles came as Hamza fell to McLachlan in straight sets. Medinilla was the next to go down, and then Ben Tasevac lost to Campbell Johnson. Cal secured the 4-2 victory as Mads Engsted beat Cowley.
“I thought all of the other guys fought hard but came short in the end,” Willems said.
Utah’s loss to the Golden Bears Sunday came after it fell to Stanford 4-3 on Friday to open Pac-12 play. The Cardinal took an early 2-0 advantage, but then the teams went back and forth before the Utes eventually lost.
Utah will continue its Pac-12 schedule when it heads out on the road to face Oregon and Washington this weekend. The Ducks are ranked No. 27 in the nation, but the Utes will look for another upset similar to last year in Salt Lake City when Oregon was ranked No. 42.
“Both Oregon and Washington are great teams,” Brateanu said. “When you play two good teams on the road, we need every single person on the team to be their best in order to get a team victory.”
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