The Utah men’s tennis team split up over the weekend to compete in the Utah Fall Classic at BYU, as well as the ITF Futures event in Costa Mesa Calif., as it kicked off the 2014 fall season.

Leading the way for the Utes in Provo were newcomers freshman Santiago Sierra and junior transfer Jamey Swiggart, who both made it to the quarterfinals.
“We did OK,” said first-year assistant coach Daniel Pollock. “Everybody came away with some wins, and we came out with what we wanted. I was happy with how the guys competed.”
Sierra, a true freshman from Mexico City, had a bye in the first round of the tournament before competing in the second round against BYU’s Jacob Sullivan. Sierra came out on top in that match, winning 6-4, 7-5, but was eliminated in the next round. Although the road ended there for the Mexico native, Sierra was happy just to finally be competing here at the U, where he claims there is a lot more talent compared to Mexico.
“I was very excited,” Sierra said. “I just tried to do my best.”
Swiggart easily made it past the first round, earning his way into the second round, where he went up against Jeremy Bourgeois. Swiggart advanced the quarterfinals, winning the match 6-4, 6-4. However, Swiggart’s story ended similarly to Sierra’s, as he too failed to advance to the semifinals.
Swiggart and Sierra also were put together as doubles partners, advancing to the quarterfinals before being knocked out by BYU’s Michael Eraso and Patrick Kawka, 8-4.
Because the Utah Fall Classic is not an official college tournament, only about half of the team went down to Provo, while the other half traveled with head coach Roeland Brateanu to Costa Mesa to compete in the ITF Futures event. Because of this, Pollock had to step in and act as head coach. But because the Utah Fall Classic was a UTSA event rather than an NCAA one, Pollock wasn’t allowed to actually coach the players and could only assess them. Pollock watched the athletes and came away with what he thought would be positive feedback for the team going forward.
“We want to identify and define each player’s game and styles, we want to build a base level with each guy,” Pollock said.
It’s one thing to evaluate where a player is at during practice against his own team, but junior Justin Archer felt like this tournament was a good change for everyone to measure up against other talent.
“Tournaments are where you’re able to see where you’re at,” he said. “The pressure is different, and you want to be able to see how you perform.”
Archer agreed with his coach, viewing this tournament as a precursor to the actual season.
“I felt all right, it’s more of a stepping stone tournament,” Archer said. “There are things to go back to the drawing board with. Our goal is to peak during the Pac-12 tournament. Just more practice, working with coaches. You need to trust yourself and learn to mentally handle situations.”
The Utes are next scheduled to compete at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. on Sept. 27.
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