The Utah Utes men’s tennis team will travel to Orlando to play against the University of Central Florida (UCF) on Saturday, March 21 at 10 a.m. Mountain Time, according to a March 17 announcement.
This matchup is significant as Utah seeks to improve its current season record of 4-11 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 conference play. UCF enters the contest with a strong record of 15-2 overall and 1-0 in conference matches this season.
UCF is coming off a successful previous season, finishing with a 23-9 overall record and going 5-3 in conference matches. Senior Mehdi Benchakroun returns for the Knights after posting a singles record of 23-8 and a doubles mark of 22-10 last year. The Knights have continued their strong performance into the current season.
For Utah, seniors Max Relic and Dante Teramo return alongside junior Emmett Potter and sophomore Charles Frey. The team also welcomes five newcomers: transfers Lorenzo Esquici and Simeon Terziev, as well as freshmen AJ Deem, Oliver Mesicek, and Balthazar Huss. Notably, sophomore transfer Simeon Terziev has made an immediate impact with a singles record of 7-2 so far this season. He remains undefeated when playing in the No. 5 spot.
In their most recent match, Utah fell to Arizona by a score of 4-0 after Arizona clinched both doubles points and all remaining singles matchups.
Head coach Roeland Brateanu returns for his twelfth season leading the Utes. Brateanu previously guided Utah to its first Pac-12 Regular Season Title during the historic 2022–2023 campaign and holds an overall coaching record of 187-117 at Utah.
Looking ahead, Utah will travel to Tempe for a match against Arizona State on March 26 before returning home to face Texas Tech on March 29.
