Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis versus Utah Invitational on October 3, 2025
Men's Tennis
vs Utah Invitational
Friday, January 31
Salt Lake City, UT
12:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
East Tennessee State
Photo by: Steve Kinslow
Utah Men's Tennis Returns Home For Three Matches
1/28/2020 3:30 PM | Men's Tennis
Utes to face East Tennessee State Friday, Nevada and Montana Saturday.
FIRST SERVE
Utah men's tennis is set to host three home matches this weekend at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. Utah will open the weekend against East Tennessee State on Friday, Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. MT. The Utes will have a short turnaround, playing two matches on Saturday, Feb. 1. Utah and Nevada will go head-to-head at 12 p.m. MT on Saturday, followed by a match against Montana at 5 p.m. MT to close out the weekend. The matches will be streamed here.
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HOME SWEET HOME
Following the three home matches this weekend, Utah men's tennis will continue its home-stretch with a pair of contests next Friday at the Eccles Tennis Center. Leading up to the match against BYU on March 7, Utah will play 11 of their next 13 matches on their home courts. Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Roeland Brateanu, Utah has posted a combined record of 51-16 at the Eccles Tennis Center in the last five years. Picking up where they left off, the Utes have started its home schedule 2-0 from wins over Idaho and Weber State and will look to continue the home success.
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LOOKING AT THE LINEUP
Utah's doubles lineup has remained the same for all four matches this season. Russell Benkaim and Randy Cory are holding down the top position for the Utes, while the freshmen duo of Franco Capalbo and Wally Thayne have competed at the No. 2 position. Rounding out doubles, seniors Slava Shainyan and Azat Hankuliyev have teamed up to compete as the No. 2 duo.
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In singles play, Benkaim and Capalbo remained as the No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while Mathias Gavelin and Shainyan competed at No. 3 and No. 4 spots like they did in the season opener. Thayne competed in the fifth position once again for Utah. Entering the lineup for the first time was Paul McCallie, where he saw action against Purdue and picked up a win in his first match.
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SCOUTING EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The East Tennessee State men's tennis team is 1-3 in dual play and are most recently coming off a 4-2 win against Penn State, while the three losses have come from ranked opponents which includes No. 7 Wake Forest. Â Last season, the Bucs were able to finish with an overall record of 20-5 and earn an appearance at the NCAA Championships. Junior Yusuf Khamis, who was named to the All-Southern Conference Second Team after 2018-19 and holds the No. 1 singles position this season for Eastern Tennessee, is the top player for ETSU.
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SCOUTING NEVADA
The Nevada men's tennis team has started the season off with a 5-0 record with sweeps over three opponents. Last season, the Wolf Pack went 11-11 overall, going 2-5 in Mountain West Conference play. Leading Nevada is senior Julien Evrard, who earned both Mountain West singles and doubles honors last season, and currently holds the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles for the Wolf Pack.
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SCOUTING MONTANA
The match against the Utes will be Montana's first dual contest of the 2020 season. Montana men's tennis is coming off of an 8-14 overall record in 2018-19 and went 5-5 overall in Big Sky Conference play. The Grizzlies are led by senior Max Korkh, who was able to finish off the 2018-19 season with an 18-14 overall record in singles, while also carding 12 wins in doubles.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Utes competed at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, playing at the Columbus, Ohio site this past Saturday and Sunday. Utah opened the weekend with a match against Tulsa and fell 2-4 in a close match. Against Tulsa, Utah claimed the doubles point after the duos of Franco Capalbo/Wally Thayne and Slava Shainyan/Azat Hankuliyev recorded victories for the Utes on their respective courts. Capalbo was also victorious in singles at the No. 2 spot, defeating Jarod Hing 6-1, 7-5.
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Following the match against Tulsa, the Utes then faced off against Purdue on Sunday and dropped the match, 3-4. Dropping the doubles point and trailing 0-1, wins in singles from Mathias Gavelin, Shainyan, and Paul McCallie at the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 6 positions gave Utah a chance, but the comeback effort fell short to the Boilermakers.
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UP NEXT
The Utah men's tennis team will be back in action next week to host two home matches at the Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. Both matches are on Friday, Feb. 7, with the Utes facing off against Utah State at 12 p.m. MT, followed by a match against Idaho State at 5 p.m. MT.
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Utah men's tennis is set to host three home matches this weekend at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. Utah will open the weekend against East Tennessee State on Friday, Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. MT. The Utes will have a short turnaround, playing two matches on Saturday, Feb. 1. Utah and Nevada will go head-to-head at 12 p.m. MT on Saturday, followed by a match against Montana at 5 p.m. MT to close out the weekend. The matches will be streamed here.
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HOME SWEET HOME
Following the three home matches this weekend, Utah men's tennis will continue its home-stretch with a pair of contests next Friday at the Eccles Tennis Center. Leading up to the match against BYU on March 7, Utah will play 11 of their next 13 matches on their home courts. Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Roeland Brateanu, Utah has posted a combined record of 51-16 at the Eccles Tennis Center in the last five years. Picking up where they left off, the Utes have started its home schedule 2-0 from wins over Idaho and Weber State and will look to continue the home success.
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LOOKING AT THE LINEUP
Utah's doubles lineup has remained the same for all four matches this season. Russell Benkaim and Randy Cory are holding down the top position for the Utes, while the freshmen duo of Franco Capalbo and Wally Thayne have competed at the No. 2 position. Rounding out doubles, seniors Slava Shainyan and Azat Hankuliyev have teamed up to compete as the No. 2 duo.
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In singles play, Benkaim and Capalbo remained as the No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while Mathias Gavelin and Shainyan competed at No. 3 and No. 4 spots like they did in the season opener. Thayne competed in the fifth position once again for Utah. Entering the lineup for the first time was Paul McCallie, where he saw action against Purdue and picked up a win in his first match.
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SCOUTING EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The East Tennessee State men's tennis team is 1-3 in dual play and are most recently coming off a 4-2 win against Penn State, while the three losses have come from ranked opponents which includes No. 7 Wake Forest. Â Last season, the Bucs were able to finish with an overall record of 20-5 and earn an appearance at the NCAA Championships. Junior Yusuf Khamis, who was named to the All-Southern Conference Second Team after 2018-19 and holds the No. 1 singles position this season for Eastern Tennessee, is the top player for ETSU.
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SCOUTING NEVADA
The Nevada men's tennis team has started the season off with a 5-0 record with sweeps over three opponents. Last season, the Wolf Pack went 11-11 overall, going 2-5 in Mountain West Conference play. Leading Nevada is senior Julien Evrard, who earned both Mountain West singles and doubles honors last season, and currently holds the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles for the Wolf Pack.
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SCOUTING MONTANA
The match against the Utes will be Montana's first dual contest of the 2020 season. Montana men's tennis is coming off of an 8-14 overall record in 2018-19 and went 5-5 overall in Big Sky Conference play. The Grizzlies are led by senior Max Korkh, who was able to finish off the 2018-19 season with an 18-14 overall record in singles, while also carding 12 wins in doubles.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Utes competed at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, playing at the Columbus, Ohio site this past Saturday and Sunday. Utah opened the weekend with a match against Tulsa and fell 2-4 in a close match. Against Tulsa, Utah claimed the doubles point after the duos of Franco Capalbo/Wally Thayne and Slava Shainyan/Azat Hankuliyev recorded victories for the Utes on their respective courts. Capalbo was also victorious in singles at the No. 2 spot, defeating Jarod Hing 6-1, 7-5.
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Following the match against Tulsa, the Utes then faced off against Purdue on Sunday and dropped the match, 3-4. Dropping the doubles point and trailing 0-1, wins in singles from Mathias Gavelin, Shainyan, and Paul McCallie at the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 6 positions gave Utah a chance, but the comeback effort fell short to the Boilermakers.
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UP NEXT
The Utah men's tennis team will be back in action next week to host two home matches at the Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City. Both matches are on Friday, Feb. 7, with the Utes facing off against Utah State at 12 p.m. MT, followed by a match against Idaho State at 5 p.m. MT.
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Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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