The No. 58 Utah men’s tennis team improved its record to 16-3 on the year, a school record heading into Pac-12 play, after defeating UNLV and LMU over the weekend at home in the Eccles Tennis Center. Last weekend’s victories wrapped up a very successful non-conference schedule for the Utes before they begin their Pac-12 schedule this weekend against Cal and Stanford.
On Friday, the Utes defeated UNLV (5-5) by a narrow margin, 4-3. To begin doubles play, the Utes’ No. 1 pair, Matt Cowley and Dan Little, overwhelmed the Rebels’ Jakob Amilon and Ruben Alberts, winning 6-1. Following the first victory, the Utes’ No. 3 pair of Egbert Weverink and Freddie McGeehan clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Charlie Croxford and Richard Solberg.
The Rebels responded quickly in singles play with Amilon’s 6-2, 6-0 victory over the Utes’ Cowley (7-4 this season). UNLV’s lead didn’t last long, however, as Utah’s Parker McGuiness defeated Evaldo Neto 6-4, 6-3. In the No. 4 spot, Weverink fell just short in consecutive sets losing 7-6, 7-6 to UNLV’s Adam Gage-Brown, but Dan Little defeated Alberts 7-5, 7-6 to pull ahead again.
UNLV’s Solberg then tied the match up at three points apiece after defeating McGeehan 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Utah’s No. 2 player, David Micevski, failed in his first set by five, but used his resilience to battle back and defeated Alexandr Cozbinov in the next two sets 7-6 and 6-4, clinching the Utes’ 15th victory of the season.
“I had a little bit of a slow start while my opponent was playing some amazing tennis and quickly put me in a situation where I was one point away from losing the match,” Micevski said. “At that moment I just wanted to keep the match going, fight hard and try to put pressure on him. Luckily I was successful in that and I fought back to win the match.”
Micevski went on to share how special it has been to be a part of such a great team in Utah’s program history.
“It is an honor to be part of this team and start right off with great success and record-breaking milestones,” he said. “Also, it is an amazing feeling to be part of this hard-working group and being coached by excellent coaches. I think that coming here was the best way for me to prepare for my ultimate goals, and me and my family are sure that I chose the right path for success in tennis and overall in life.”
Micevski (9-1) has put together a very impressive freshman campaign since arriving to Utah from Skopje, Macedonia. When asked about the freshman, Utah head coach Roeland Brateanu shared nothing but praise for Micevski.
“[Micevski] is a player that really loves to play tennis — he lives for the game,” Brateanu said. “He has dreams and goals of playing beyond college tennis. It’s that will and desire that he has to be perfect and to win that kept him in the match … I always believe that attitudes are contagious, and I can only hope that some of the other guys were playing close attention to how hard he was working out there.”
The following afternoon, the Utes returned to the Eccles Tennis Center to host the visiting Loyola Marymount Lions. In doubles play, Weverink and McGeehan defeated LMU’s Luke Bohuslav and Lukas Moenter, 6-4 in the No. 3 spot. Utah’s Little and Cowley then beat Joat Farah and Errol Smith 7-6 to capture the doubles point.
Leading 1-0 in the No. 1 spot, Cowley then began singles play by quickly defeating Charles Boyce 6-2, 6-2, giving the Utes another point. LMU then got on the scoreboard after Smith defeated Little. Following LMU’s point, Utah’s McGuiness beat Bohuslav 6-1, 6-3, while Weverink then clinched the match shortly after with the Utes’ fourth point, defeating Farah 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
In the No. 2 spot, Mickevski then defeated Cristobal Rivera 7-6, 6-4 to wrap up the afternoon.
“The good thing is I think we played one of our best, maybe the best match, of our year so far against Loyola Marymount on Saturday,” Brateanu said. “We are hopeful going into conference, but I think we haven’t played our best tennis yet.”
Brateanu shared that considering a Pac-12 school has won 55 out of 72 national championships, it’s widely considered the toughest conference in the country. The head coach hopes the Utes can compete when conference play starts this weekend.
The Utes will host Cal on Friday at 3 p.m. MT, and then Stanford on Sunday at noon MT.
@ArmenMShrikian