The second week of the regular season saw the Utah men’s tennis team travel to Denver on Jan. 22 and then New Mexico on the 23rd while the Utah women’s team was pitted against Montana and Seattle University at home.

Utah Women vs. Montana

Utah began their match day with doubles at 10 a.m. MST against Montana. The Montana women did not have enough players to fulfill a third doubles match which automatically gave Lindsay Hung and Katya Hersh who was last week’s doubles MVP and player of the match a win by forfeit, but there were still two doubles matches to play for.

Anastasia Goncharova and Emily Dush of Utah faced off against Montana’s Alex Walker and Lauren Dunlap in which the Utah duo eased to a 6-2 win and secured the doubles point for the team. The final doubles match put Linda Huang and Madison Tattini (Utah) face to face with Grace Haugen and Olivia Oosterbaan (UM) where Huang and Tattini matched the score of the other match, winning 6-2.

With the doubles point in hand, Utah and Montana went to face off in singles. The Utah women only needed three wins to secure the singles point and win the match as my singles MVP from last week Madeline Lamoreaux didn’t have an opponent automatically granting her the W.

Linda Huang (Utah) and Grace Haugen (UM) were matched up and Huang dominated both sets winning 6-0 and 6-2. Emily Dush (Utah) faced Olivia Oosterbaan (UM) in what was the closest match by far. Dush won the first set 6-2 however the second set was much tighter as it had to go to seven games but with all eyes on her, Dush clutched up and won 7-5. Lindsay Hung (Utah) went up against Lauren Dunlap (UM) and easily won both sets 6-2 and 6-3. Anastasia Goncharova (Utah) and Ivayla Mitkova (UM) faced off in what was another match win for Utah with Goncharova winning her sets 6-3 and 6-2.

The last singles match saw Madison Tattini (Utah) play against Alex Walker (UM) which produced a close first set as Tattini won 6-4 and a more manageable second set with Tattini winning 6-3. Linda Huang was my MVP against Montana for her pure dominance and efficiency in her singles match. The Utah women swept their way to a 7-0 win between the doubles and singles matches moving to 3-0 on the season and keeping their red hot start rolling along.

Utah Women vs. Seattle University

With their confidence sky-high, the Utah women faced Seattle University in their second match of the day starting with doubles at 4 p.m. Utah achieved a perfect sweep in doubles as Linda Huang and Madison Tattini of Utah faced Jade Quintana and Liliya Dimova of Seattle University, Anastasia Goncharova and Emily Dush (Utah) went up against Elena Kravela and Mireia Fehr (SU), and the dynamic duo of Lindsay Hung and Katya Hersh (Utah) matched up with Jillian Rasmussen and Hannah Grossman of Seattle University all won their matches 6-0.

Easily securing the doubles point, Utah went into singles with a win already in hand as Samantha Horwood of Utah had no opponent giving her a win by forfeit. Linda Huang (Utah) continued her good form against Liliya Dimova (SU) winning her sets 6-2 and 6-0. Lindsay Hung (Utah) went three sets with Mireia Fehr (SU) as Fehr won the first set 6-2 with Hung winning the second set 6-2 and clutching up the third set 10-5.

Anastasia Goncharova (Utah) faced off against Jade Quintana (SU) in which Goncharova cruised to a win 6-2 and 6-1. My singles MVP from last week, Madeline Lamoureaux (Utah), played her first match of the day against Hannah Grossman (SU) as she continued her dominant form sweeping the first set 6-0 and winning the second 6-2.

My doubles MVP from last week, Katya Hersh (Utah), played in her first singles match of the year facing Jillian Rasmussen (SU) as she showed her versatility winning the match 6-0 and 6-1. With her near-perfect showing against Seattle University, Katya Hersh is my MVP of the match for not only winning her doubles match 6-0 but showing her overall dominance and versatility in her first singles match of the season only giving up one game through both sets.

Utah yet again finished with a perfect 7-0 match improving their record to an undefeated 4-0 after the first two weeks of the regular season. The Utah women and their commanding form travel to Cinncinati facing the Bearcats on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. and then on to Indiana to face the Hoosiers on Jan. 30 at 9 a.m.

Utah Men at Denver

The Utah men’s team was on the road this week with stops in Denver and New Mexico. Utah faced Denver on Jan. 21 and started their road stint with doubles at 6 p.m.

Bruno Caula and Francisco Bastias of Utah went up against James Davis and Matt Summers of Denver in which Denver swept the Utah duo 6-0. Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin of Utah faced off with Mattia Ros and Nico Herrero Cuesta of Denver and Utah won 6-3 to tie doubles at one apiece. In the final match of doubles, Jayson Blando and Mathias Gavelin of Utah went head to head against Daniel Krulig and Peter Sallay of Denver where Blando and Gavelin won a tight one 7-6 and secured the doubles match point.

After a hard-fought start, Utah went into singles with a point in hand knowing they were in for a close singles match. Franco Capalbo (Utah) and James Davis (DEN) went at it for three sets with Capalbo winning the first with a 7-6 (4) tiebreaker and Davis winning the second 6-3, Capalbo clutched up and won the third set 7-5. Francisco Bastias (Utah) lost his match with Nico Herrero Cuesta (DEN) with the first set being a tiebreaker 7-6 (8) and the second set going to seven games 7-5. Bruno Caula (Utah) went three sets with Matt Summers (DEN) losing the first set 6-3 but winning the second 6-4 however Caula couldn’t pull through and lost the third set 6-4. My overall MVP from last week, Geronimo Espin (Utah), continued his great form against Mattia Ros (DEN) winning his sets 6-1 and 6-2.

Bruno Krenn (Utah) lost to Peter Sallay (DEN) in straight sets 6-4 and 6-3. In his season debut, Mathias Gavelin (Utah) won his match against Daniel Kruig (DEN) 7-5 in the first set and 6-3 in the second. My MVP against Denver has to be Franco Capalbo not only for winning his doubles match but also for keeping a cool head when needed most, winning his triple set match, and securing the singles point. With a 4-3 win over Denver in singles, the Utah men moved to 3-0 on the season prepared and ready to face anything New Mexico threw at them.

Utah Men vs. New Mexico

With a tiring yet energizing start to the road trip, Utah went to face New Mexico on January 23rd at 12 pm. Jayson Blando and Mathias Gavelin of Utah faced Aram Noroozian and Daniil Kakhniuk of New Mexico in which the Utah duo finished their match first and won 6-2.

The dynamic duo of Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin (Utah) won their match against Jan Pucalka and Alex Maggs (UNM) 6-4 and secured the doubles point for the team. Bruno Caula and Francisco Bastias of Utah had their match called off against Nicolas Prieto and Arda Azkara of New Mexico due to the doubles point already in hand but the score was 6-5.

With the Utah men starting how they wanted, they went into singles with all the momentum. Franco Capalbo (Utah) won both sets in his match against Rafael Abdulsalam (UNM) with a score of 6-2. Francisco Bastias (Utah) went up against Arda Azkara (UNM) and came out on top 6-3 and 6-2.

Geronimo Espin (Utah) faced Joel Pierleoni (UNM) and cruised to a victory winning his sets 6-1 and 6-2. Bruno Caula (Utah) also won both of his sets against Alex Maggs (UNM) with a score of 6-3. The only loss of the day came when Bruno Krenn (Utah) lost to Jan Pucalka (UNM) in straight sets 6-0 and 6-3.

The final match of the day and the only three-set match was between Mathias Gavelin (Utah) and Georgio Samaha (UNM), in which Gavelin won the first set 6-3 but lost the second 6-1 however he rallied back and won the third set 6-2. My MVP against New Mexico is Geronimo Espin for winning his doubles match and continuing his top singles form being the first to finish his match and also giving up only three games through both sets. The Utah men’s team goes into week three 4-0 and is hungry to keep the streak alive as they face UC Santa Barbara at home on January 29th at 1 pm and are back on the road to face Loyola Marymount on Jan. 30 at 1 p.m.

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