This past weekend was a good penultimate weekend of Pac-12 regular season tennis. I personally got to enjoy it by making the 3.5 hour drive up to Salt Lake City to watch the Utes battle two fellow NCAA bubble teams in Washington and Oregon.
On Friday afternoon the Utah/UW match was moved indoors as temperatures were well below the ITA minimum, infact there were some soft snow flurries in the air as I parked and walked into the indoor facility. Utah’s indoor facility is pretty high quality with great viewing available behind each court
Utah won the doubles point but Washington would go on to win 2 straight singles points to gain the momentum
Court 3: Enzo Sommer with the flashy pass to break and clinch the 7-5 7-5 win over Egbert Weverink. @UW_MTennis leads 2-1 now pic.twitter.com/r7lGjApPO7
Jeff McMillan (@j_j_j_t_m) April 14, 2018
Washington was then able to clinch the match 4-2
And @UW_MTennis wins it 4-2! Court 6: Piers Foley def Joe Woolley 6-4 3-6 6-2 and he gets mobbed. @ITA_Tennis #matchpointmonday pic.twitter.com/VqA0PrKPGd
Jeff McMillan (@j_j_j_t_m) April 14, 2018
On Saturday, the weather was barely warm enough to play outside. It was a critical match between two teams in desperate need for a win. Oregon would come out on top 4-3, here are the Ducks singles match points that secured the W
Court 5: Ty Gentry def Randy Cory 6-3 7-6(2) . @OregonMTennis leads 2-0 pic.twitter.com/TNIpducdOK
Jeff McMillan (@j_j_j_t_m) April 14, 2018
Court 6: Riki Oshima finally converts on his 6th match point to defeat Russell Benkaim 6-3 7-6(6) pic.twitter.com/FBAR6hTkH9
Jeff McMillan (@j_j_j_t_m) April 14, 2018
Court1: anti-climactic ending as Thomas Laurent vehemently shuts the door 7-6(5) 4-6 6-1 on Dan Little. Big big win for Oregon! pic.twitter.com/eUkHVE2mt8
Jeff McMillan (@j_j_j_t_m) April 14, 2018
A hurtful weekend overall for Utah as they dropped 2 matches at home, winning even just one of them would have likely secured an NCAA tournament spot. Oregon got a win that greatly increases their tournament chances and Washington kept thei slim hopes alive.
Elsewhere in the Pac 12 over the weekend things went to form. Stanford dispatched Cal 4-0 in an impressive display. While USC and UCLA both went 2-0 against the Arizona schools. Arizona State put up a good fight in both matches, but in the end did not have enough to pull off a big upset that would have boosted their ranking into a more secure position.
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