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Men's Tennis Defeats New Mexico, 6-1

Jan 23, 2022

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Utah men's tennis team continued its winning ways on Sunday afternoon from the McKinnon Family Tennis Center on the campus of the New Mexico Lobos. The Utes came away with a 6-1 victory over the Lobos.
 
The Utes took an early lead in doubles action on the day as Jayson Blando and Mathias Gavelin jumped out to a quick lead in No. 3 doubles. They did not let the Lobos duo of Aram Noroozian and Daniil Kakhniuk back into the match and won 6-2. Utah needed to win one of the following two doubles matches to win the doubles point.
 
The No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles were highly contested as they were tied at 4-4 in No. 1 doubles in the set. Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin Busleiman would claim the next sets and take the match 6-4. The No. 2 doubles match of Bruno Caula and Francisco Bastias would go unfished, but the Utah duo was leading 6-5.
 
The Lobos collected the first point of the day in singles action as Jan Pucalka won in No. 5 singles.
 
Following the win for the Lobos, Utah rallied off the five wins in singles. Espin Busleiman started the winning ways for the Utes in No. 3 singles. He won 6-1, 6-2, putting the Utes ahead 2-1. Bruno Caula was next for the Utes with a win in No. 4 singles. He defeated Alex Maggs 6-3, 6-3, putting Utah ahead 3-1.
 
Needing one more match to clinch, Bastias was the one to earn the win for the Utes. Playing No. 2 singles, Bastias matched up with Arda Azkara, and Bastias won 6-3, 6-2. Capalbo earned a victory in singles as he defeated Rafael Abdulsalam 6-2, 6-2.
 
Utah needed to win No. 6 singles to take five of the six singles matches. Gavelin was matched up with Georgio Samaha and took the first set 6-3. However, Samaha battled back and took the second set, 6-1, forcing a third set. The third set belonged to Gavelin as he won 6-2, clinching the sixth point of the day for the Utes.
 
UTAH 6, NEW MEXICO 1
Singles (5,3,4,2,1,6)

  1. Franco Capalbo (UU) def. Rafael Abdulsalam (UNM), 6-2, 6-2
  2. Francisco Bastias (UU) def. Arda Azkara (UNM), 6-3, 6-2
  3. Geronimo Espin Busleiman (UU) def. Joel Pierleoni (UNM), 6-1, 6-2
  4. Bruno Caula (UU) def. Alex Maggs (UNM), 6-3, 6-3
  5. Jan Pucalka (UNM) def. Bruno Krenn (UU), 6-0, 6-3
  6. Mathias Gavelin (UU) def. Georgio Samaha (UNM), 6-3, 1-6, 6-2

Doubles (3,1) 

  1. Franco Capalbo/Geronimo Espin Busleiman (UU) def. Jan Pucalka/Alex Maggs (UNM), 6-4
  2. Bruno Caula/Francisco Bastias (UU) vs. Nicolas Prieto/Arda Azkara (UNM), 6-5 unfinished
  3. Jayson Blando/Mathias Gavelin (UU) def. Aram Noroozian/Daniil Kakhniuk, 6-2

 
UP NEXT 
The Utes remain on the road as they head to Los Angeles for a pair of matches on Saturday and Sunday. Utah will face UC Santa Barbara on Saturday before playing Loyola Marymount on Sunday. Both matches are slated for a 1 p.m. MT start.
 
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Fans can follow along during the 2022 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahTennis | Instagram: @UtahTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahmenstennis).