The Utah Utes men’s tennis team is set to compete in Las Vegas this weekend, facing Grand Canyon University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Both matches will be held at the Frank and Vicki Feritta Tennis Complex.
Utah will first play against Grand Canyon on Saturday, February 28 at 2 p.m. MT. The following day, Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. MT, they will meet UNLV at the same venue. Fans can access live streams and stats for these matches online and follow updates on Twitter via @UtahTennis.
Grand Canyon enters the match with an 11-1 record for the current season. Last year, they finished with a 13-7 overall record and were strong at home with a 12-3 mark. Junior Brice Patoux returns after winning ten singles matches last season and earning All-WAC first team honors.
UNLV has a current season record of 6-4 after finishing last year at 7-12 overall and 1-5 in conference play. Senior Vitaliy Horovoy leads the Rebels; he posted an 11-5 singles record last season and was undefeated in the No. 5 position.
The Utes return seniors Max Relic and Dante Teramo along with junior Emmett Potter and sophomore Charles Frey. The roster includes five newcomers: transfers Lorenzo Esquici and Simeon Terziev, plus freshmen AJ Deem, Oliver Mesicek, and Balthazar Huss.
Sophomore transfer Simeon Terziev has had a strong start to his first season with Utah, holding a 6-1 singles record and currently on a six-match winning streak after securing a victory against Old Dominion during the Battle In Boro event.
In their most recent outing, Utah lost narrowly to Old Dominion by a score of 4-3. The Utes won the doubles point and secured victories in singles positions No. 1 and No. 4 before Old Dominion claimed wins in the remaining singles matches to take the overall result.
Head coach Roeland Brateanu is now in his twelfth season leading Utah men’s tennis. Under his leadership, the team won its first Pac-12 Regular Season Title during the historic 2022–2023 campaign. Brateanu previously guided Utah to an unbeaten regular season (18-0) in 2021 with a final Oracle/ITA ranking of No. 50. He currently holds an overall coaching record of 186 wins to 113 losses at Utah.
After this weekend’s matches in Las Vegas, Utah will return home to host Montana State on Saturday, March 7.
Fans are encouraged to follow @UtahTennis on Twitter or Instagram for updates or visit Facebook.com/Utahmenstennis for more information.
