Women's Tennis Heads to Pac-12 Championship

FIRST SERVE
The Utah women's tennis team heads to Ojai, California, to participate in the 2022 Pac-12 Women's Tennis Championship. The Championship runs from Wednesday through Saturday. Utah earned the ninth seed in the Championship and will open play on Wednesday against eighth seed Arizona.
 
 MATCH INFORMATION 
Utah (14-10) vs Arizona (16-10)
DATE | TIME: Wednesday, April 20| 10 a.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Ojai, California | Ojai Valley Athletic Club
TWITTER UPDATES: @UteWomensTennis

HEAR FROM COACH MORTEA

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2022 Pac-12 Championships will be played April 20-23 at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club, with Saturday's final being held at Libbey Park in Ojai, Calif. After winning the regular-season title, California enters as the No. 1 seed with a 5-2 win over Stanford last weekend. Cal will face the winner of the Utah/Arizona match. UCLA begins as the No. 2 seed and will face the winner of the WSU-Washington match in a Thursday quarterfinal. Stanford is the No. 3 seed and faces the winner of Oregon/Colorado, while No. 4 USC and No. 5 Arizona State face off in a quarterfinal match Thursday. For more information on the Pac-12 Tournament, click here.
 
LAST TIME OUT 
Utah last played against Colorado. In doubles, Lindsay Hung / Katya Hersh and Anastasia Goncharova / Emily Dush were able to defeat their Colorado opponents, 6-1 and 6-2, respectively, to clinch the doubles point. Linda Huang and Madison Tattini's match was left unfinished, but they were leading 5-3.
 
Tattini took the first singles point, winning her match 6-4, 6-1. Following closely behind her, Huang defeated her opponent in a tough set of games, 6-3, 7-6(5). Dush was defeated by Colorado player Caroline Pozo, 6(4)-7, 4-6, giving the Buffaloes their first point. Goncharova closed out the match with her third set victory over Maria Campos, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Utah won 4-1.
  
SCOUTING ARIZONA
Arizona is currently ranked 46th in the nation and holds a record of 16-10 on the season. Arizona dropped its last regular season match on April 16 when Arizona State defeated the Wildcats 4-1. Arizona holds a 3-1 record in neutral site matches. Leading the way for the Wildcats are four players with 11 wins this spring. Salma Ziouti, Kayla Wilkins, Parker Fry, and Midori Castillo-Meza have 11 wins. The Wildcats are 68-60 in singles matches as a team. In doubles, the Wildcats are 30-33, and the duo of Midori Castillo-Meza and Belen Nevenhoven lead the way with nine wins. 
  
LAST TIME VS ARIZONA
On April 8, these two programs matched up, and Utah dropped a heartbreaker, 4-3, to the Wildcats. Utah took the doubles point on the day to open the match. With Utah down 3-2, Anya Lamoreaux dropped her first set but rallied off wins in the second and third set, tying the match at 3-3. The match would come down to No. 3 singles. In the match that went to a third set, the Wildcats edged Utah for a 4-3 win.
 
LAST TIME AT THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Utah played Oregon in the first round of the 2021 Pac-12 tournament. Oregon was ranked 47th nationally and 6th in the Pac-12, while the Utes were ranked 11th in the Pac-12 and unranked nationally. Utah was defeated 0-4, ending their time at the tournament. 
 
TOP TEN RECRUITING CLASS 
The Utah women's tennis team earned a top ten recruiting class for the first time in school history. The Utes earned the ninth-ranked class by the Tennis Recruiting Network. Utah has signed three for next season. Kaila Barksdale, Yasmin Ezzat, and Marcela Lopez have all signed to join the Utes for the 2022-23 season. To find out more about the class, click here. 
 
TOP AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS
Universal Tennis took a look at the top 10 ranked college players from Australia. The results are based on the UTR Ranking. Utah's Linda Huang came in fourth on the list. Her ranking is 10.23 from the UTR Rating.
 
UP NEXT 
With a win, the Utes would advance to the Quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Women's Tennis Championship to face top seed California on Thursday. The match against Cal would start at 1 p.m. MT from the OVAC. For more information on the Pac-12 Tournament, click here.
 
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2022 season on social media (Twitter: @UteWomensTennis | Instagram: @UtahWomensTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahwomenstennis).