Women's Tennis Returns Home for Matches Against Utah State and Denver

Saturday, February 22

Salt Lake City, UT

1:00 PM

University of Utah

Utah State

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

Women's Tennis Returns Home for Matches Against Utah State and Denver

2/20/2020 4:22 PM | Women's Tennis

Utes to play in Eccles Tennis Center for first time since Jan. 11.

FIRST SERVE
For the first time since the season opener on Jan. 11, the University of Utah women's tennis team (6-3, 0-0 Pac-12) will play at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City with a pair of home matches on tap. The Utes will first take on in-state opponent Utah State (3-2, 0-0 Mountain West) on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. MT. Utah will wrap up the weekend with a match against No. 33 Denver (7-2, 0-0 Summit League) on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 11 a.m. MT. A live stream for the two home matches this weekend can be found here.

MOVING UP
Dominating on the doubles court, the Ute duo of Whitney Hekking and Madison Tattini have continued moving up in the ITA rankings and in the latest poll, Hekking and Tattini came in ranked as the nation's No. 16 doubles team. Hekking and Tattini have started the 2020 season with a perfect 8-0 record to lead the Utes in doubles play. The Ute duo picked up doubles wins on the road last weekend against Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine to continue their winning streak. Highlighting spring action so far, Hekking and Tattini downed the nation's then-ranked No. 3 duo from UCF.

SOPHOMORES STEPPING UP
Of the nine Utes, the women's tennis team has six sophomores on the roster. Despite being a young group and only having a full year of college competition under their belts, the sophomore class is holding down five of the singles positions for Utah, while five-of-six doubles players are sophomores. Tattini, the reigning ITA Mountain Region Freshman of the Year, plays on the top singles and doubles courts to lead the way, while transfer Madeline Lamoreaux, the reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year, competes at the No. 2 singles and doubles. Lindsay Hung, Emily Dush, and Anya Lamoreaux all add to the strong sophomore class making up the Utah lineup.

SCOUTING UTAH STATE
The Utah State women's tennis team comes into the match with Utah with a 3-2 record to start the year. Last weekend, the Aggies dropped matches to BYU and Northern Arizona. The Aggies are led by senior Lucy Octave, who currently holds the No. 1 position in singles for USU, and has carded three wins in singles on the season. Last season when Utah and USU faced off, the Utes swept the Aggies 7-0 where Tattini, Dush, Hung and Hekking all chipped in singles wins.

SCOUTING DENVER
The Denver women's tennis team comes into their match with the Utes ranked No. 33 in the nation after recording a 7-2 record to start the year. The Pioneers are coming off a 4-3 win over Texas Tech, as well as a 4-3 victory over No. 25 South Carolina last weekend. Denver is led by sophomore Taylor Melville who comes into the match ranked as the No. 103 singles player in the nation with a 6-2 record and is also 6-3 in the No. 1 doubles position with Hada Chang. Melville was named the Summit League Player of the Week on Jan. 21.

LAST TIME OUT
The Utes continued road play with matches against UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount. Utah began the road trip with a 4-0 sweep against UC Irvine for their sixth win of the season. Gaining another doubles point, Utah pulled through on courts one and three in doubles to quickly earn the 1-0 lead. Tattini, Madeline Lamoreaux, and Lindsay Hung all earned straight-set wins to end the match. On Sunday, Utah dropped a close match to LMU 4-2. Utah earned the doubles point once again, but the Lions stormed back to win enough singles matches to clinch the win.

UP NEXT
The Utah women's tennis team will continue play at home and will host in-state rival Brigham Young. Looking to earn their 11th-straight win against BYU, the Utes will go head-to-head with the Cougars on Friday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. MT.