Utes Conclude Day Two at Gopher Invitational

Saturday, November 4

Minneapolis, MN

All Day

University of Utah

Gopher Invitational

11/4/2017 4:12 PM | Men's Tennis

Sierra and Stoner move to 3-0

MINNEAPOLIS - The Utah men's tennis team concluded a second day of action at the Gopher Invitational this afternoon at the University of Minnesota.

After falling in the quarterfinals to Minnesota, David Micevski and Dan Little got some revenge on a pair of Gophers in the back draw. After dropping the doubles point in a tiebreak, 7-6, it took a pair of amazing singles matches to earn the win. Little dropped the first set to Eli Oglivy, 6-4, but won the second, 7-5, and the third 10-6, to even the score. Meanwhile, Micevski and Josip Kristanovic matched tiebreak wins in the first two sets before playing an extremely entertaining 11-9 third frame with the Utes coming out on top.

In the Gold draw, Joe Woolley and Randy Cory continued to move along. They steamrolled their second round opponents, a split squad of players from Minnesota and Denver. The Utah duo then topped Notre Dame's Daniel Rayl and Johnathan Small, 6-4 before Cory clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Small in singles action.

Elsewhere in the Gold draw, Santiago Sierra and Chase Stoner rallied to beat a squad from Notre Dame. After dropping the doubles point, 6-2, and falling in the opening singles sets, both Utes dug deep to climb back. Sierra beat Nathan Griffin in the final two sets, 6-2 and 10-4 while Stoner won a tiebreak in his second set before beating Paul Gota in the third, 10-5.

This tournament features a unique format: the Maroon draw is a 16-team compass bracket with pairs competing in a doubles match followed by two singles matches against their foes in a best-of-three format with each victory providing one "point" for the tournament. The team with the most points moves on to the next round.

The Gold draw features two flights of round robin play. After a round-robin format, the pairs will be split up based on results. Sunday will consist of one round of each.

MAROON DRAW
Quarterfinals
Allen/Alpeza (Minnesota) def. Micevski/Little, 6-3
Allen def. Micevski, 6-2, 6-3
Little def. Alpeza, 6-3, 6-2

Consolation Quarterfinals
Lobak/Levin (Minnesota) def. Shainyan/Weverink, 6-1
Lobak def. Shainyan, 7-5, 6-3
Levin def. Weverink, 6-2, 0-6, 10-7

Back Draw
Krstanovic/Oglivy (Minn.) def. Micevski/Little, 7-6
Micevski def. Krstanovic, 7-6, 6-7, 11-9
Little def. Oglivy, 4-6, 7-5, 10-6

Gamble/Kempin (ND) def. Shainyan/Weverink, 6-3
Gamble def. Shainyan, 6-3, 6-3
Weverink def. Kempin, 6-7, 6-2, 10-5

GOLD DRAW
Second Round
Sierra/Stoner def. Akihiro/Smith (Oregon), 6-3
Tanaka def. Sierra, 6-4, 7-6
Smith def. Stoner, 6-4, 7-5

Woolley/Cory def. Nunez/Dobbs, 6-2
Woolley def. Nunez, 7-6, 6-1
Cory def. Dobbs, 6-1, 6-2

Third Round
Griffin/Gota (ND) def. Sierra/Stoner, 6-2
Sierra def. Griffin, 4-6, 6-2, 10-4
Stoner def. Gota, 3-6, 7-6, 10-5

Woolley/Cory def. Rayl/Small (ND), 6-4
Rayl def. Woolley, 3-6, 6-3, 10-4
Cory def. Small, 6-2, 6-4