Men's Tennis Opens Pac-12 Play at Stanford and Cal

FIRST SERVE
The Utah men's tennis team will hit the road to open Pac-12 action this weekend when they head to the Bay Area. This weekend, the Utes will face two ranked opponents in No. 10 Stanford and No. 43 Cal. The Utes open at Stanford on Friday before closing the trip at Cal on Sunday. 

UTAH IN THE POLLS
The ITA Team National Rankings were announced on Wednesday. The Utes found themselves in the top 25. Utah came in at No. 22. The ITA Collegiate Tennis Division I Men's Team Rankings feature the nation's Top 75 teams.
 
UNDEFEATED TEAMS 
Entering this weekend of play, only two teams remain unbeaten. Utah and Montana are the only schools in the nation to be undefeated. The two schools have combined to go 25-0 to start the 2022 spring season. 
 
ITA PLAYER RANKINGS
After a busy week of play, the ITA Division I Men's Rankings came out on Wednesday. Geronimo Espin Busleiman comes in ranked 118th this week. Espin Busleiman is 12-0 on the season, with his last win coming on Feb. 26, when he earned a victory over Weber State. Both of his matches last weekend went unfinished. 
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE UTES
Last weekend, the Utes closed out their weekend with a 4-0 victory over UC San Diego for their 16th win of the season. After dropping the first doubles match of the day, the Utes responded by winning the next two to take the doubles point. Bruno Caula and Rian Ta clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory. After wins by Caula and Jayson Blando in singles, Franco Capalbo clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in No. 1 singles. 
 
SCOUTING STANFORD
The Cardinal enter the weekend ranked 10th in the nation and are 9-2 on the season. Both the losses for Stanford came during the ITA National Team Indoor Championships when they lost 4-3 to South Carolina and 4-1 to Southern California. They are coming off a 6-1 victory over Saint Mary's back on Feb. 26. A sophomore from Wimbledon, United Kingdom, Arthur Fery leads the way with seven victories this spring. All of his wins have come at the No. 1 singles position. Fery is ranked No. 2 in the ITA DI Men's Top 125 National Singles rankings. The Cardinal has five players ranked in the ITA rankings. Following Fery are Max Basing (#59), Alexandre Rotsaert (#97), Axel Geller (#102), and Aryan Chaudhary (#123). Stanford's doubles team of Fery and Rotsaert is ranked #7 by the ITA. 
 
SCOUTING CAL 
The Golden Bears enter the weekend of Pac-12 play winners of their last two matches and holding a 5-3 overall record. Cal sits at No. 43 in the latest ITA National Team Rankings. Cal will face Santa Clara on Friday before taking on the Utes on Sunday. Yuta Kikuchi leads the team this season as he is ranked #91 in the ITA singles rankings. Kikuchi is 4-3 this season in playing No. 1 singles. Lucas Magnaudet leads the team with six singles wins this season. Kikuchi teams with Carl Emil Overbeck in doubles action, and the duo has a 6-0 record this spring. They are currently ranked No. 17 by the ITA doubles rankings. 
 
BEST START IN PROGRAM HISTORY
The Utes opened the season 16-0, which is the best start in program history. The previous school record was 11-0, which was set during the 2015-16 season.
  
UP NEXT 
Utah remains on the road for the third straight week when they head to San Diego to face San Diego and Harvard on Friday and Saturday. The Utes will take on San Diego Friday afternoon before closing the trip against Harvard. Both schools are ranked in the top 40 of the ITA rankings. 
 
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2022 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahTennis | Instagram: @UtahTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahmenstennis).