Utah tops men's tennis 5-2

Saturday, February 1

Salt Lake City, Utah

12:00 PM

Montana

Utah

Tomasz Soltyka, in his second ever match as a Grizzly, was victorious in the No. 3 singles match.

2/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Feb. 1, 2014

The Montana Grizzly men's tennis team came up short in Salt Lake City on Saturday afternoon, losing to the Utah Utes 5-2 at the Eccles Tennis Center.

"I was really pleased with most of the matches," Head coach Kris Nord said. "We're headed in the right direction."

The Griz won in the No. 1 doubles match, but lost at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.

"I think we played much better in doubles today," Nord added. "There' s a new scoring format and it's much faster scoring, so I think we go used to that."

Tomasz Soltyka, in his second ever match as a Grizzly, was victorious in the No. 3 singles match. The Poland native snuck by Utah's Alejandro Medinilla 6-5 (7-5), 6-5 (7-2). Both sets were tied up at 5-5, but Soltyka came up clutch winning both tiebreakers.

"That's a really great win for Tomasz," Nord said. "The kid he beat played No. 1 for Utah all last year, so obviously that's a tough win. I think he was a little nervous yesterday, and he settled in today."

Montana's other team point came courtesy of Ethan Vaughn in the No. 5 singles match. After a tough loss Friday, Vaughn bounced back with a close first set 6-5 (7-4) and a second set of 6-4.

The Griz lost yesterday to Utah State in Logan by the same score, but Coach Nord pointed to improvements his team made.

"We talk a lot about how you respond to tough team losses, and tough defeats," Nord said. "And our guys came out and fought hard and played better today."

The Grizzlies will have two weeks to prepare for a trip to Bozeman to battle Montana State at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Utah 5, Montana 2
Feb. 1 at Salt Lake City, Utah (Eccles Tennis Center)

Doubles Results
1. Andrew Warren/Semion Branzburg(UM)def. Cedric Willems/Slim Hamza (UTAH) def. (6-4)
2. Matt Cowley/Alejandro Medinilla (UTAH) def. Mikolaj Carjuk/Tomasz Soltyka (UM), (6-3)
3. Ben Tasevac/Devin Lane (UTAH) def. Ethan Vaughn and Zach Drost (UM), (6-3)

Singles Results
1. Slim Hamza (UTAH) def. Mikolaj Caruk (UM), (6-1,6-1)
2. Ben Tasevec (UTAH) def. Andrew Warren (UM), (6-1, 6-5 (7-5)
3. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) def. Alejandro Medinilla (UTAH), (6-5 (7-5), 6-5 (7-2)
4. Cedric Willems (UTAH) def. Semion Branzburg (UM), (6-3, 6-3)
5. Ethan Vaughn (UM) def. Devin Lane (UTAH), 6-5 (7-4), 6-4)
6. Matt Cowley (UTAH) def. Zach Drost (UTAH), (6-3, 6-1)