Rejuvenated Utah Women’s Tennis Beats BYU While Men Continue to Steamroll the Competition

Sufian Muhammad Asib

Utah women’s tennis player and University of Utah junior Anya Lamoreaux serves against New Mexico State University in an NCAA dual meet at the Jon M. Huntsman Tennis Center on Feb. 4, 2021. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)

By Elijah Murray, Sports Writer

 

The University of Utah women’s team was rejuvenated this weekend as they faced arch-rivals BYU as well as NAU and the men continued their streak moving to 14-0 on the year against Weber State.  

Utah Women vs. BYU

The Utah women faced their arch-rivals, BYU, at home on Friday, Feb. 25. The match day started with doubles as Utah’s Linda Huang and Madison Tattini swept BYU’s Leah Heimuli and Helen Jiao 6-0. 

The Utes captured the doubles point as Anastasia Goncharova and Emily Dush took down BYU’s Anastasia Abraham and Bobo Huang 6-3. Lindsay Hung and Katya Hersh of Utah faced BYU’s Emilee Astle and Kara Lin but the match went unfinished as the doubles point was already won. Utah was down 4-5 before the match was called.

With the doubles point in Utah’s hand, the Utah women started singles on the right foot as Tattini beat Jiao 6-0 and 6-3. Utah’s Anya Lamoreaux faced BYU’s Madison Smith and won 6-0 and 6-3. 

Huang won her game and secured the singles point as she beat Heimuli in straight sets 7-5 and 6-1. Goncharova, Hung and Dush all had their matches go unfinished with the 13th straight win over BYU already in the books. 

Utah Women vs. NAU

The Utah women were home again as they faced NAU on Feb. 27 at 9 a.m. MST. Goncharova and Dush started the day right as they won their doubles match against NAU’s Sofia Markova and Ava Neyestani 6-1. Huang and Tattini secured the doubles point beating NAU’s Annabel Davis and Gina Ditman 6-4. 

With the doubles point already in hand, Hersh and Tattini had their match called against Laura Duhl and Elinor Beazley of NAU. The score was tied 6-6 before the match went unfinished. 

With a newfound sense of confidence, the Lady Utes went into singles ready to add another win to the record. Goncharova started singles off hot beating Neyestani 6-3 and 6-1. 

Tattini continued the great play as she faced Davis and won her match 7-5 and 6-2. Dush clinched the singles point in a three-set match against Beazley, winning the first set 6-1 but losing the second in a 3-7 tiebreaker. Dush clutched up, convincingly winning the final set, 6-0. 

With the two wins this weekend, the Utah Women moved to 11-1 on the year and look unstoppable once more. The Utes have two Pac-12 matchups next weekend as they take on USC at home on Friday, March 4 at 1:30 p.m. and face UCLA at home on Sunday, March 6 at noon.

Utah Men vs. Weber State

The Utah men faced Weber State at home on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. Starting the day off with doubles, Utah’s Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin beat Weber State’s Elyes Marouani and Tristan Sarap 6-2. 

Utes Jayson Blando and Mathias Gavelin secured the doubles point, beating Bo-Han Li and Matteo Savio of Weber State 6-2. Francisco Bastias and Bruno Caula of Utah had their match called against Weber State’s Sebastian Buxman and Jordan Coutinho. The match was 5-3 before it was called. 

The Utah men swept singles as Espin beat Marouani 6-1 and 2-0 with an opponent retirement. Caula faced Li and won 6-0 and 6-2. Bastias secured the singles point and the win, beating Sarap 6-2 and 6-3. Utah’s Bruno Krenn, Gavelin and Capalbo all had their matches go unfinished with the win already in hand. 

The Utah men continued their historic start moving to 14-0 on the season and continuing to steamroll anyone in their way. The Utes will look to improve upon their undefeated streak next week where they will travel to San Diego to face San Diego State on Sunday, March 6 at 10 a.m. and UC San Diego later in the day at 4 p.m.

 

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