Utah’s men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in the ITA Invitational from Oct. 17-22.
The men’s team competed at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, while the women competed at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Both teams went head-to-head with their opponents, including players from Boise State, Colorado, Northern Arizona and other surrounding schools in the Mountain Region.
Evenly set matchups in the 64-team bracket made for competitive contests throughout the week. There was no shortage of standout performances from the Utes on the men’s and women’s teams.
Sara Akid was the star of the tournament for the women. The sophomore from Casablanca, Morocco, played her best tournament of the year. Akid cruised her way to the quarterfinals before losing a close match to her opponent in three sets. Akid defeated challengers from Idaho, UTEP and New Mexico State en route to a top-eight finish.
Other notable athletes to mention from the tournament are sophomore Emma Kamper and junior Kaila Barksdale. Both women won their first two matches before getting knocked out in the round of 16. Overall, a solid tournament for the Utes creates excitement for the USD Intercollegiate Invitational taking place Nov. 1-3.
For the men, the Utes had four athletes advance to the round of 32. Sophomores Gianluca Citadini and Nicolas Calixto advanced through the round of 64 before losing close matches the following day.
Charles Frey and Dylan Applegate joined them as victors of day one. Making up four of the remaining 32 players had Utah feeling good about their odds on day two. Unfortunately for the Utes, that was the extent of their tournament.
Looking forward, the men’s team will travel to Malibu, California, to compete in the Sectional Championships on Nov. 7-10. Another promising start to the tournament will have the Utes prepared to keep the momentum rolling past day one.