Men’s Tennis Tops ITA Mountain Rankings

TEMPE, Ariz. – The ITA Collegiate Tennis Division I Men's Regional Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point were released for the 2022 spring season. The Regional Rankings include the Top-10 Teams, Top-20 Singles, and Top-10 Doubles for every region. 
 
After a successful 2022 season that saw the Utes win 21 matches and earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament and an ITA ranking as high as 22. Utah went undefeated in region play and ranked No. 1 in the Mountain Region. Utah started the year 16-0, the best start in program history. 
 
Along with being the top-ranked team in the region, the Utes had the top-ranked singles player and doubles team. Utah has four players ranked in the top-20 for singles, including three in the top five and two in the top-10 for doubles. 
 
Earning the top spot in singles was Franco Capalbo. Capalbo was second on the team with 15 wins this spring. He earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors following the season, becoming just the third player in program history to earn second-team honors. 
 
Geronimo Espin Busleiman was ranked second in the region and led the Utes with 18 wins this season. We won his last five matches. He was a Pac-12 honorable mention selection this year. He was ranked as high as No. 93 in the ITA singles rankings. His biggest win of the season came when he defeated then-No. 100 Ewen Lumsden of Washington. 
 
Francisco Bastias earned the fifth singles ranking in the region. The Pac-12 honorable mention selection won 15 matches in the No. 2 singles position. He helped the Utes to a win over then-No. 44 Oregon as he picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Quinn Vandecasteele.
 
Bruno Caula rounded out the Utes in the singles rankings. Caula earned the 15th singles ranking. He was fourth on the team with 11 victories. He helped the Utes clinch a 4-2 win over Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over Lukas Engelhardt. 
 
The top doubles team in the region belonged to Capalbo and Espin Busleiman. The duo earned a selection to the NCAA Doubles Championship and finished the season ranked No. 22 in the ITA Doubles rankings. The pair went 19-2 in doubles, including wins over then-No. 32 Arthur Fery and Axel Geller of Stanford, then-No. 17 Yuta Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck of Cal and then-No. 25 Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecsteele of Oregon. 
 
Caula and Bastias are the fifth-ranked doubles team in the region as they went 15-7 on the season. The pair defeated Sean Hill and Lucas Magnaudet of Cal, 6-2, helping Utah take the doubles point. They won 6-1 over Jeffrey Fradkin and Karl Lee of UCLA, helping the Utes to their first-ever victory over UCLA. Their most significant win of the season came on March 27, when the duo defeated then-No. 34 Clement Chidekh and Nedim Suko of Washington. 
 
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