Utah Tennis Defeats Drake 4-3 in Des Moines

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Utes played the first of two road matches this afternoon against the Drake Bulldogs at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center, where the Utes managed to leave town with a narrow 4-3 victory. After dropping the doubles point to the Bulldogs, the Utes were able to rally in singles and pick up four victories to move to 8-3 on the year.

During doubles play, Utah's court two of Slava Shainyan and Mathias Gavelin lost to Drake's Matija Matic and Markus Bolin 6-2. Soon after, teammates Francisco Bastias and Geronimo Busleiman also ceded their match to Drake, 6-3. Though Bruno Krenn and Luis Flores were taking the lead in their match on court three, 4-3, it remained unfinished as Drake took on the doubles point.

Singles play provided the Utes a chance at regaining their position, though it did not come without a fight. On court four, Gavelin fell to Drake's Fragistas, 6-2, 6-0, giving the Bulldogs their second point and a 2-0 lead.

The Utes' first point came on court two, where Busleiman downed Hermann quickly in the first set 6-1, and then fended off his opponent 6-4 in the second. Closely following, Shainyan also took the upper hand against his opponent, finishing a competitive match 6-4, 6-4 and placing Utah and Drake in a tied match at 2-all.

The matches on the remaining courts were all sent to third sets with the Utes needed two-of-three wins. Krenn gave the Utes their third point on court five when he downed Drake's Freddie Powell, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a battle. Following his teammate's lead in another tight third set, Francsico Bastias defeated his opponent and finished his match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, awarding the Utes a team victory.

On court six, Chris Heck ultimately fell to Markus Bolin in a tiebreaker in the third set - 6-2, 0-6, 6-7 (6) - which gave Drake their third and final point although the match had been clinched by the Utes.

The Utah men's tennis team will head to Texas Tech to close out the road trip on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 10 a. m. MT at the McLeod Tennis Center in Lubbock, Texas.
 
UTAH 4, DRAKE 3
Singles (4,2,1,5,3,6)
1. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Oliver Johansson (DRAKE), 6-4, 6-4
2. Geronimo Busleiman (UTAH) def. Bendek Hermann (DRAKE), 6-1, 6-4
3. Francisco Bastias (UTAH) def. Matija Matic (DRAKE), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
4. Evan Fragistas (DRAKE) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH), 6-2, 6-0
5. Bruno Krenn (UTAH) def. Freddie Powell (DRAKE), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Markus Bolin (DRAKE) def. Chris Heck (UTAH), 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-6)
 
Doubles (2,1)
1. Oliver Johansson/Bendek Hermann (DRAKE) def. Francisco Bastias/Geronimo Busleiman (UTAH), 6-3
2. Matija Matic/Markus Bolin (DRAKE) def. Slava Shainyan/Mathias Gavelin (UTAH), 6-2
3. Bruno Krenn/Luis Flores (UTAH) vs. Freddie Powell/Evan Fragistas (DRAKE), 4-3, unf.