Over the weekend, the Utah women’s tennis team took home a 4-3 victory over Oregon for its second Pac-12 conference win on the year. This match took place Sunday at the Student Tennis Center in Eugene, Ore., and the Utes’ win improved their overall season record to 12-10.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” said head coach Mat Iandolo. “Their best player was suspended so we caught a break there and took advantage of it. I don’t feel like we played particularly great, but I was happy to come out of there with a win.”
To start things off in the first doubles match, Utah took a victory by forfeit. Then, the team of sophomore Margo Pletcher and freshman Brianna Turley took a 7-5 win over their Ducks counterparts in the second doubles match, giving the Utes the doubles point.
In the last match, senior Sarah Richter and sophomore Alexia Petrovic took a 6-3 defeat, but because of the earlier forfeit, the Utes had already secured the doubles point for the match.
In singles play, another forfeit from Oregon gifted Utah another point to increase its lead. Meanwhile, freshman Taylor Calton took a victory of her own on Sunday by defeating her opponent in a 6-2, 6-1 decision, while Pletcher took home yet another win in a close match against her opponent; after first splitting sets—6-2, 6-2—Fletcher finished off the deciding final set with a 7-3 victory.
This gave Utah four points for the match, winning the event despite dropping three consecutive matches in the No. 2-4 slots of the contest. While the Utes might have to consider themselves lucky for being handed two points on the day, Turley was especially proud of her teammates to get the win.
“Overall, I was just really proud of my team and Margo [Pletcher] for pulling through with the win,” Turley said. “I know there were a lot of nerves, especially in the third set, so I was just really proud of her for stepping up and getting the win.”
Up next, the team heads to Boulder, Colorado on Saturday to take on Colorado in its final Pac-12 meet of the regular season. This match is set to begin at 11 a.m. MT.
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