Getting out of the first round of any tournament is terrific, but when your program has never advanced out of the first round of a season-opening tournament, it makes it that much better.
Then-No. 60 Utah became the first team in Utah men’s tennis history to advance out of the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off in Athens, GA. when they were victorious over No. 55 Elon Phoenix last weekend.
“Overall, pretty happy with the way things went,” said Utah head coach Roeland Brateanu. “It was our first dual matches of the year. I thought the guys handled it well, and we got a lot better over the weekend.”
While the Ute duo of Cedric Willems and Matt Cowley were victorious in the No. 1 slot of double plays over their Elon counterparts, Utah dropped both matches at the No. 2 and 3 spots to surrender the doubles point to Elon.
However, Utah evened the score in singles play right off the bat when Parker McGuiness dominated Jordan Kaufman, 6-0, 6-3, in the No. 4 slot.
The score did not stay tied for long as Willems, in the No. 2 spot, captured a win with a score of 6-2, 6-1. Cowley was then topped in the No. 3 spot as the Phoenix tied the match only to see the lead slip once again as Utah senior Slim Hamza, who was playing in the No. 1 spot, beat Elon’s Stefan Fortmann 6-4, 7-6(3).
“I think that we fought really hard,” Hamza said. “We fought for one another and cheered for one another. The intensity was really high. I think the coaches were really happy with our performance.”
As quickly as the Utes got the lead, they saw Elon tie it up as freshman Freddie McGeehan couldn’t best his Phoenix opponent at the No. 4 spot, losing the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. However, fellow freshman Santiago Sierra was able to seal the victory for Utah, as he beat Neal Port, 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-3, in the No. 6 spot.
“It means a lot to us,” Hamza said. “We came out really fired up and really focused. We really wanted to win more than them. We wanted it really bad.”
After the monumental first-day victory, Utah had the tough task of taking on No. 8 Georgia. However, there would be no fairytale ending on this day as the Bulldogs pounced on the Utes, sweeping them by a score of 4-0.
“Georgia’s a top-ten team for a reason,” Brateanu said. “[Georgia] is a final product. That’s where we need to be as a team in the future. It was a very good experience for our guys to see what it takes to get to that next level.”
Utah was able to grab one doubles victory against Georgia, as Hamza and McGeehan beat the Georgia duo of Eric Diaz and Austin Smith, 6-3, in double play.
Cowley, McGuiness and Willems were all defeated by their opponents on the final day of the tournament in singles play, but despite that, Brateanu believes the weekend proved to be successful for his team.
“They can see that their hard work is paying off,” Brateanu said. “I’m not really too worried about getting overconfident. The guys have been working unbelievably hard throughout the year, and I have no doubt that that is going to continue.”
Utah will take a small break from action before returning to the court on Jan. 31 when it takes on Montana State to begin their eight-match homestand.
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