The University of Utah Tennis teams had a nice weekend out at the LMU Invitational in Los Angeles and the UNLV Invite in Las Vegas.

Utah saw some good tennis from both the men’s side in LA and the women’s competition in Vegas over both three-day competitions.

During the first day of competition for the men, they matched up against UC Irvine in singles and Loyola Marymount University in doubles. Mathias Gavelin grabbed a victory in three sets, and Slava Shainyan trailed 4-3 in the first set before his opponent retired from the match to give him a victory.

Randy Cory, Paul McCallie, Azat Hankuliyev and Rafael Grovas all took losses to UCI in singles.

Gavelin and McCallie then took the court as doubles partners and pulled out a victory, 8-4 as did Grovas and Cory, 8-5. Hankuliyev and Shainyan took a loss, 8-5.

On Day 2, McCallie and Hankuliyev both picked up wins in singles against LMU, while Gavelin, Cory, Grovas and Shainyan all took losses. In doubles, Hankuliyev and Shainyan took a win over Utah State, while Grovas and Cory won over UC Irvine. Gavelin and McCallie took a loss to Utah State.

On Day 3, McCallie, Cory and Shainyan took wins in singles over Utah State. Hankuliyev lost to LMU, while Gavelin and Rian Ta were defeated by USU. All three doubles teams took losses to UC Irvine on the final day of competition.

The women also had a successful weekend. In the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament, Kayta Hersh and Anya Lamoreaux matched up against the No. 17 ranked team in the nation from Ole Miss. They pulled off an early upset, 8-6. Next, Madison Tattini and Whitney Hekking took a victory over Arizona. Jasmine Rich and Madison McKay lost to Colorado.

In singles, Tattini, Hekking, McKay and Emily Dush all took losses. Hersh and Lamoreaux grabbed wins.

On Day 2, Tattini, Hekking, McKay and Rich all took victories in the singles consolation bracket. Dush and Lamoreaux suffered losses. Hersh picked up a win in the main bracket. In doubles, the teams of Tattini and Hekking and Hersh and Lamoreaux continued their great play with wins in the main bracket. Rich and McKay took a loss in the consolation bracket.

On the final day, Lamoreaux, Dush and Tattini lost in the consolation bracket. Hekking, Rich, and McKay grabbed wins. Hersh lost in the championship round of the tournament to Colorado’s Sophia Derivan. Rich and McKay lost in the consolation bracket, but the big event of the day was the doubles final. This pitted two Utah teams against each other, with Hersh and Lamoreaux taking on Tattini and Hekking. Tattini and Hekking ended up with the victory, 8-2, but either outcome is good news for the Utes.

Overall, a very successful weekend out for both sides of Utah Tennis. The men are back in action at home on Jan. 16 vs. Idaho, while the women are off until March 6th in Washington. Until then, the Utes can feel good about their performances this weekend.

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