Utah Tennis Comes Up Short Against No. 27 Arizona State 4-2

Salt Lake City – The Utes hosted No. 27-ranked Arizona State this Friday afternoon and although Utah secured the doubles point, the Utes fell short in singles for final score of 4-2. After three singles matches were sent to third sets, Utah couldn't find enough wins to get the job done on Friday.

During doubles, the Utes were able to secure their first point of the match to get the day started. On court two, Franco Capalbo and Luis Flores fell to the ASU duo 6-2, but soon after teammates Mathias Gavelin and Geronimo Busleiman took the upper hand in their match, downing their opponents 6-4. The point was decided on court one, where Francisco Bastias and Slava Shainyan took the victory, finishing 6-3 and granting the Utes the doubles point.

Although Utah had the momentum from doubles, singles was a battle across the board as three courts saw three-set matches. Arizona State took the lead after posting straight set wins over Busleiman and Shainyan on courts two and three, respectively. The Sun Devils' third point came on court five, where Gavelin fell short to Max McKennon after three sets by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Utah's second point came on court one, where after two lively sets Capalbo downed ASU's No. 92-ranked Nathan Ponwith 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) for the first Ute singles win.
On courts four and six, the matches went into third sets where the matches became extremely close and both were needed for the team win. On court six, Krenn fell short to his opponent after falling into a hole early on in the third set. Although he battled back, it was too late and dropped the third set 6-4, awarding the Sun Devils their match-clinching point.

On court four, Bastias was also battling it out in his third set and looking to tack a point on the board, but his match was unfinished as the set was tied 4-4.

The Utes will continue their home weekend on Sunday, when they face Arizona at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center at 12 p.m. MT.

ASU 4, UTAH 2
Singles (2,3,5,1,6)
1. Franco Capalbo (UTAH) def. Nathan Ponwith (ASU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1)
2. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) def. Geronimo Busleiman (UTAH) 6-4, 6-4
3. Tim Ruehl (ASU) def. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 7-5, 6-1
4. Francisco Bastias (UTAH) vs George Stoupe (ASU) 3-6, 7-5, 4-4, unf
5. Max McKennon (ASU) def. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
6. Christian Lerby (ASU) def. Bruno Krenn (UTAH) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
 
Doubles (2,3,1)
1. Francsico Bastias/Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Nathan Ponwith/Tim Ruehl (ASU) 6-3
2. Makey Rakotomalala/George Stoupe (ASU) def. Franco Capalbo/Luis Flores (UTAH) 6-2
3. Mathias Gavelin/Geronimo Busleiman (UTAH) def. Christian Lerby/Max McKennon (ASU) 6-4