The No. 50 Utah women’s tennis team (2-1) split its first road trip of the season, beating No. 59 UC Santa Barbara (0-3) and dropping one to No. 38 Oklahoma Sooners (1-1).
On Friday, the Utes came away with a gusty 4-3 win over the UCSB Gauchos. Utah came away with the doubles point, continuing its doubles dominance. At No. 3 doubles, Taylor Calton and Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa beat USCB’s Melissa Baker and Jaimee Gilbertson 6-2. The Gauchos responded as Palina Dubavets squeezed out a 7-6 victory over the Utes’ Margo Pletcher and Brianna Turley at the No. 1 doubles spot.
Sarah Richter and Alexia Petrovic came up clutch in the deciding doubles match, emerging with a 7-6 win over UCSB’s Lou Adler and Amanda Atanasson to put Utah up 1-0 in the match.
In No. 3 singles, Adler tied the match for the Gauchos, handing Turley her first loss of the season, 6-2, 6-1. UCSB took a 2-1 lead, its first and only of the day, after beating Calton 6-3, 6-2. Utah tied the match at 2-2, after Richter beat Dabavets in No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-4.
Utah took a 3-2 lead after Petrovic beat Stephanie Yamada 6-0, 6-3, but the Gauchos tied the match as Gilbertson beat Jena Cheng 6-1, 6-4.
All eyes were on Utah’s Pletcher and UCSB’s Stefani Stojic as they decided the winner of the competition. After losing the first set 5-7, Pletcher rallied to win the next two sets convincingly, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, and giving the Utes their second victory in a row to start the season.
Head coach Mat Iandolo credits his entire team for winning this match.
“I thought it was a good weekend for us — beating UC Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara was a good win for the team,” Iandolo said. “It was great the way Margo [Pletcher] came back and won the deciding match in No. 1 singles. Sarah Richter and Alexa Petrovich won in both singles and doubles, which helped carry us through.”
Following Friday’s exhilarating win, the Utes faced a 24-hour turnaround and a tough Oklahoma Sooner team, hungry for its first victory of the season in Santa Barbara.
Utah lost its first doubles match of the season, as Lily Miyazaki and Simran Sethi beat Richter and Petrovic 6-3. Then Christina Brigante and Mimi Fotopoulos locked up the doubles point for the Sooners, beating Calton and Da Rosa 6-2.
Oklahoma kept its foot on the gas in singles play, winning every match in straight sets. Miyazaki beat Pletcher deceivably at the No. 1 spot, winning 6-1, 6-1. Sooner Emma Devine put Oklahoma up 3-0 by beating Turley 6-2, 6-4. Fotopoulos clinched the match for the Sooners, beating Cheng 6-3, 6-2. After controlling the match from start to finish, Oklahoma beat Utah 4-0.
“Felt like we had a little bit of a letdown [against Oklahoma], but they are a very good team,” Iandolo said. “To come out of [Santa Barbara] 1-1, against that kind of competition, will help us as we move through the rest of the year.”
Utah’s next match is against the University of Denver (0-0) on Friday, Feb. 5 at the Eccles Tennis Center. The match starts at 5 p.m., and admission is free.
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