COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, the University of Utah men's tennis team fell to Tulsa with a final score of 2-4. The Utes will continue action at the ITA Kickoff Weekend tomorrow morning with a match in the consolation round against Purdue at 8 a.m. MT at Ohio State's Varsity Tennis Courts.
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The Utes started the day off strong in doubles to get the early 1-0 lead heading into singles. The duo of
Slava Shainyan and
Azat Hankuliyev carded the first doubles victory on the No. 3 court, knocking off Stefan Hempe and Tom Thelwall-Jones with a score of 6-2. The win marked the senior duo's third-straight doubles win to remain undefeated together this season.
After Utah's top doubles team fell, freshmen
Franco Capalbo and
Wally Thayne then sealed the doubles point for Utah as they came away victorious at the No. 2 spot. Capalbo and Thayne defeated Boriss Kamdem and Daniel Siddall, 6-3.
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After Tulsa tied the match 1-1 from a win on court one in singles play, Capalbo then carded a victory at the No. 2 position, topping Jarod Hing, 6-1, 7-5, to put Utah back up 2-1. Capalbo's victory was then followed by three straight losses on the No. 6, No. 4, and No. 3 courts by the Utes to allow the Golden Hurricane to take the 4-2 win over Utah. All competitive matches,
Randy Cory in the No. 6 position won the first set in his match, but then dropped the next two.
Mathias Gavelin and
Slava Shainyan also competed in tight matches on the No. 3 and No. 4 courts, but couldn't push ahead of their opponents to pull out a set win.
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Utah men's tennis will be back in action tomorrow morning to wrap up their trip to the ITA Kickoff Weekend with a match against the Purdue Boilermakers at 8.m. MT. Live scoring and video for the ITA Kickoff Weekend is available
here, along with a recap of the day's action being available on UtahUtes.com following the conclusion of play.
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Tulsa 4, Utah 2
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Doubles (3,1,2)
Di Marco/Pearson (TUL) def. Cory/Benakim (UU), 6-4
Capalbo/Thayne (UU) def. Kamdem/Siddall (TUL), 6-3
Shainyan/Hankuliyev (UU) def. Hampe/Thelwall-Jones (TUL), 6-2
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Singles (1,2,6,4,3)
#98 Kody Pearson (TUL) def.
Russell Benkaim (UU), 6-1, 6-0
Franco Capalbo (UU) def. Jarod Hing (TUL) 6-1, 7-5
Stefan Hampe (TUL) def.
Mathias Gavelin (UU), 7-6, 6-3
Connor Di Marco (TUL) def.
Slava Shainyan (UU), 6-4, 6-4
Wally Thayne (UU) vs. Juan Pablo Cenoz (TUL), 7-5, 1-6, 1-2, unf.
Ezequiel Santalla (TUL) def.
Randy Cory (UU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
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