After a strong season from both Utah men’s and women’s tennis teams, expectations are high for both of these teams this year. Last season, the Utah women’s tennis team had taken the most wins in a season since 2015, with a 13-11 record and going 6-1 against mountain region schools as well. The men’s team exceeded expectations last season, with a 24-6 record going 6-2 within the conference along with the PAC-12 season title.
Last season, men’s head coach Roeland Brateanu was awarded ITA Regional Coach of the Year and PAC-12 Coach of the Year, along with assistant coach Sten Van Beurden taking the award of Assistant Coach of the Year.
Three of the members of the men’s team recorded at least 18 wins last season, highlighting Patrik Trhac, who only recorded three losses within the season and ended on an 11-match winning streak.
Now, current sophomore Marcela Lopez had the honor of earning the ITA Mountain Region Rookie of the Year after going 15-5 in singles.
Rising senior Geronimo Espin Buseliman was awarded the ITA Senior Player of the Year within the region last season as well, and he is expecting another great year as well.
The Utah men’s schedule was released last Friday, with the men kicking off the season on Sept. 28, as they go on to play at the ITA Regionals down in Colorado Springs until Oct. 2. Simultaneously, the ITA All-American Championships are taking place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The schedule also consists of six invitationals and two individual matches between Arizona and USC on April 12 and April 19.
Another notable invitational is the ITA Fall Nationals, which includes 64 singles players from across the nation and 32 pairs for doubles.
With eight members on the men’s roster, there is a new addition to the team, freshman Gianluca Citadini, from Formosa, Argentina.
Citadini was ranked No. 139 within the ITF Junior World Rankings along with No. 3 as a national junior rank.
The women’s team has added three new players, including transfer players Ana Cruz, Yuhan Liu and freshman Emma Kamper.
Cruz is a graduate transfer who led the University of South Carolina to 21 doubles wins and had the third most singles wins amongst her team. Liu is our other transfer addition coming from Arkansas. Her ITF Junior ranking is No. 353 and she has competed internationally, most recently in the National Chinese Tennis Association Tournament. Lastly, Kamper is the newest addition, being a freshman. Kamper is from Denmark and is ranked within the top 500 junior players in the world.
Overall, the Utes have several opportunities to represent themselves in the conference and national level this year and they look to focus on the upcoming tournaments later next month.
