Utes power past Griz

Saturday, February 17

Salt Lake City, Utah

5:30 PM

Montana

Utah

2/17/2018 10:31:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The Utah Utes won the doubles point and picked up straight-set wins in five of the six singles matches to hand the Montana men's tennis team its first loss of the season on Friday night in Salt Lake City.

The loss to the Utes evens Montana's record at 1-1 after two weeks of play but gives them plenty to reflect on with the most difficult opponent of the season now in the rear-view mirror.

"I'm not discouraged by any means. It's what happens when an 11-1 Pac-12 team plays a Big Sky team with only one match. Utah was match-tough, and played very clean tennis," said Interim Head Coach Jason Brown. "I'm proud of our guys and the way they competed."

In the doubles round, the Grizzlies were on track to pull off the biggest upset of the season on court one when the Utes clinched the point on courts two and three.

Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos were leading the nation's No. 56 ranked Cory/Benkaim pair 4-2 and looked to be well on their way to victory before the doubles came to a close.

"They looked like they were in mid-season form," said Brown. "I'm happy with how they came out. They have played together for three years now, and it really showed in that match."

In the singles round, Ludvig Hallgren forced a third-set tiebreaker against Utah's Joe Wolley on court six before falling 6-4, 6-7, 10-3.

On court five, senior Ignacio Tejerina pushed the Utes' Santiago Sierra to a 7-5 decision in the first set before running out of gas in the second, falling 6-1. One of Utah's most accomplished players, Sierra played in the regional final two years ago and has been one of the top players in the region throughout his career.

"Nacho was impressive against Sierra," added Brown. "He played a fantastic first set."

On court one, Griz ace Victor Casadevall had trouble keeping up with the firepower of Utah's Dan Little, who is currently ranked No. 122 in the nation, falling 6-2, 6-2.

Schmidl carried his strong form into the singles round, but couldn't put together enough momentum before falling 6-3, 6-4.

Montana returns to action on March 2 in Bozeman when the Griz take on the Bobcats in a nonconference tune-up ahead of conference play. UM then opens Big Sky play two days later against defending league champs Idaho in Missoula.

Utah 7, Montana 0

Doubles (2,3)
Randy Cory/Russell Benkaim (UTAH) vs. Yannick Schmidl/Alexander Canellopoulos (MON), 2-4, unf.
Joe Woolley/Egbert Weverink (UTAH) def. Max Korkh/Ludvig Hallgren (MON), 6-0
Dan Little/Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Victor Casadevall/Ignacio Tejerina (MON) 6-1

Singles (1,3,4,2,5,6)
Dan Little (UTAH) vs. Victor Casadevall (MON), 6-2, 6-2
David Micevski (UTAH) vs. Yannick Schmidl (MON), 6-3, 6-4
Slava Shainyan (UTAH) vs. Alexander Canellopoulos (MON), 6-2, 6-4
Randy Cory (UTAH) vs. Max Korkh (MON), 6-4, 6-3
Santiago Sierra (UTAH) vs. Ignacio Tejerina (MON), 7-5, 6-1
Joe Woolley (UTAH) vs. Ludvig Hallgren (MON), 6-4, 6-7, 10-3