The Utah men’s tennis team competed in the ITA Mountain Regionals last week in Las Vegas, Nev. and they had a very strong showing that was headlined by the performance of senior Cedric Willems, who made it all the way to the semifinals of the tournament.
Willems was seeded No. 15 overall and won four consecutive matches to get to the semifinals. The senior played excellent tennis throughout the tournament, but it wasn’t easy. All but one of his matches went to a third set, but Willems fought his way through the bracket and found himself matched up with the No. 1 overall seed, Henry Craig from Denver.
Despite playing a good match, Willems lost in yet another hard fought, three-set match, 6-7, 7-5, 7-5. Even though Willems would have enjoyed advancing to the finals, the senior was happy with how he played in the tournament.
“I was very pleased with my performance, I played a great tournament,” Willems said. “[I] just came up short in the semifinals. I played a great match though. I competed with the number one players from several schools and it’s a good thing to know that [I’m] up there with them.”
Another notable performance from Utah came from the doubles duo of Matt Cowley and Santiago Sierra. The two found themselves in the consolation bracket, but qualified for the quarterfinals. In that round, Cowley and Sierra dropped a match to a duo from Weber State, 8-7.
With positive performances all around, head coach Roeland Brateanu had nothing but praise for how his team played.
“Overall I was very excited with their performance in Vegas. The guys really executed what we had worked on in practice,” Brateanu said.
The tactics they have been practicing are starting to yield results and it is giving the team a lot of confidence. The exact reasoning for all the trust comes from the way things are being taught and coached.
“A big part has to do with the coaches,” Willems said. “They encourage us to do the right thing and try to execute what we’ve been working on. Everybody is really buying into that.”
Willems used his performance from the tournament as an example of what can happen when they trust what the coaches are teaching.
“The trust is really important. We trust [the coaching staff] and since I’m having good results, the team sees that it pays off,” he said.
While Willems credits his coaches for his success, it’s Brateanu who points his finger to the players.
“They are making it easy on us coaches,” Brateanu said. “It’s their focus and determination.”
The Utes will try to keep their success going as they prepare for the ITA Nationals in Flushing Meadows, NY. on Nov. 6.
 
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