SALT LAKE CITY — The University of San Francisco men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 non-conference decision at Pac-12 Conference member Utah Thursday at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center.
 
The Dons (7-7) won the doubles point to start the match and take a 1-0 lead. Johan Garpered and Nitzan Ricklis improved to 3-1 on the season with a 6-4 win at No. 3 doubles, which evened the competition after Utah (17-9) had won the No. 2 spot. Paul Giraud and Ori Maior beat Utah's Francisco Bastias and Slava Shainyan, 6-4, at the No. 1 doubles spot to clinch the doubles point for the Dons.
 
"We did a great job today controlling the things we could control, but Utah was too tough in the end," said San Francisco head coach JT Sundling. "We are better prepared to play BYU tomorrow because of this match."
 
The Utes won all six singles matches to take the team victory, 6-1. Stevie Gould forced his match at No. 5 to three sets after taking the first, 6-4, before dropping the next two. Phuc Huynh nearly forced a third set at No. 3 singles, dropping a tiebreaking 7-6 (7-3) second set.
 
San Francisco next faces BYU in Provo, Utah, at 9 a.m. PDT Friday in a West Coast Conference match.
 
Utah 6, San Francisco 1
Salt Lake City – George S. Eccles Tennis Center
April 15, 2021
 
Singles
1. Franco Capalbo (UTAH) def. Nitzan Ricklis (USF), 6-0, 6-1
2. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) def. Paul Giraud (USF), 6-4, 6-2
3. Geronimo Busleiman (UTAH) def. Phuc Huynh (USF), 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)
4. Francisco Bastias (UTAH) def. Ori Maior (USF), 6-0, 6-4
5. Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) def. Stevie Gould (USF), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. Bruno Krenn (UTAH) def. Mitch Johnson (USF), 6-3, 6-2
 
Order of finish: 1, 2, 6, 4*, 3, 5
 
Doubles
1. Paul Giraud/Ori Maior (USF) def. Francisco Bastias/Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 6-4
2. Luis Flores/Franco Capalbo (UTAH) def. Phuc Huynh/Stevie Gould (USF) 6-1
3. Nitzan Ricklis/Johan Garpered (USF) def. Geronimo Busleiman/Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) 6-4
 
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1*