Both sides of Utah Tennis had exciting and dominant performances this weekend.
The men’s team took on the Weber State Wildcats and the Montana State Bobcats. The Utes defeated Weber state 6-1, and defeated Montana State 7-0.
This dominant display by the men’s team was followed by the women’s team, triumphing 7-0 and 7-0 over Utah State and Southern Utah University, respectively.
Coming off of tough losses last week, the teams’ good performances were a huge sigh of relief. The teams were hoping for just that, coming into the weekend match-ups.
In men’s tennis, Dan Little started the match for the singles team, winning his sets 6-4 and 6-3 to close out a dominant first match. His entire team would come out swinging the rest of the day, with Russell Benkaim only losing one set in his two matches, and Mathias Gavelin winning his first official match for the Utes, with a dominant 6-4 and 6-1 outing. Senior Joe Woolley closed the singles out with a statement victory, winning 6-1 and 6-0.
In the doubles scheme of things, Benkaim and Randy Cory won 6-3, Azat Hankuliyev and Dan Little won 6-1, and Slava Shainyan and Woolley took a 6-3 victory, to close out the match with a 7-0 victory.
(Photo by Curtis Lin/ Daily Utah Chronicle)
The women’s team bounced back from a tough loss against Texas A&M, sweeping both the Aggies and Thunderbirds 7-0. Facing the Aggies were Madison Tattini and Brianna Chisholm, Leah Heimiuli and Whitney Hekking, and Lindsay Hung and Taylor Calton. All three duos emerged victorious. At singles, all won as well. Chisholm, 6-2 6-1, Tattini, 6-0 6-2, Dush, 6-1 6-2, Hung, 6-2 2-6 11-9, Calton, 7-5 6-3, and Hekking winning by default. The whole team performed well again, dominating the Thunderbirds
After a gritty first match, and an easier second one, winning 6-3 6-2, freshman, Lindsay Hung explained the interesting day of tennis.
“I would say for the first match I didn’t play my best tennis,” Hung said. “I could have more easily beaten her but I wasn’t focused throughout the match, but in the end, I wanted it more than her.”
Hung also talked about how she was able to turn things around. “The second match was 100 percent better than the first one, and I was solid throughout, so overall the day was okay,” she said.
Four collegiate match-ups transpired at Eccles Tennis Center, all four ending with a Utes victory, perfectly redeeming the two squads tough road losses from the week prior. Next week for the men’s team, they face ACC powerhouse, North Carolina. The women’s team will host both New Mexico and Boise State.