(St. George, Utah – Feb. 7, 2024) - After a two-week break, the Trailblazer tennis team travels to Ogden for a pair of matches against Weber State and Idaho State.

Who | Utah Tech (0-3, 0-0 WAC) at Weber State (2-2, 0-0 Big Sky)
When | Friday, Feb. 9 / 11:30 a.m.
Where | Ogden Athletic Club – Ogden, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

Who | Utah Tech (0-3, 0-0 WAC) vs. Idaho State (3-3, 0-0 Big Sky)
When | Saturday, Feb. 10 / 12 p.m.
Where | Ogden Athletic Club – Ogden, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

A GLANCE AT WEBER STATE
The Wildcats are off to a 2-2 start to the season with a 5-2 win over at UTEP and a 4-3 victory over Youngstown State in Las Vegas last weekend. Weber State has fallen at New Mexico State, 5-2 and at UNLV, 4-1.

Weber State posted a 12-9 overall record in 2023 while winning the Big Sky Tournament with a 4-2 win over Northern Arizona. The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they fell to No. 7 national seed Stanford, 4-0.

The two teams met in St. George in 2023 with the Wildcats coming out victorious, 6-1 on March 4.

Led by head coach Brad Ferreira, now in his 12th season at Weber State, the Wildcats are an experienced group with seven returners from a season ago and are led by a senior trio of Megan Davies, Sicely Ferreira and Ana Morett.

A GLANCE AT IDAHO STATE
The Bengals are 3-3 on the season with wins over Utah State (5-2), Colorado Mesa (7-0) and College of Idaho (7-0). ISU has dropped matches to Utah (7-0), Boise State (4-3) and Washington State (5-2).

Coming off a 10-9 season in 2023, the Bengals went 5-3 in Big Sky action and advanced to the Big Sky Tournament falling to Sacramento State, 4-0.

The Trailblazers traveled to Pocatello in 2023 falling to the Bengals, 7-0 on Feb. 3.

Idaho State brings back six returners from a season ago and adds two newcomers. Senior Lola O'Lideadha is 5-1 on the season at No. 2-4 singles with her lone loss coming to Emma Kamper of Utah.

TRAILBLAZERS FALL TO UTAH STATE IN HOME OPENER
Utah Tech picked up a win at number two doubles with Ana Gutierrez Sampere and Kylie Kezos rallying from down 0-3 to win 7-5.

Splitting the first four singles positions against the Aggies, the Trailblazers earned a point at number two singles with Adithi Venkatakrishnan dominating her way to a strong 6-4, 7-5 win.

Senior Ya-Chi Hsu picked up a win at number four singles with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory, but the Aggies earned wins at the final two single positions to clinch the win.

OPENING WEEKEND
The Trailblazers opened the season against Utah and Montana State in Salt Lake City on Jan. 19-20 falling in straight sets to the Utes and 6-1 to the Bobcats.

Utah Tech battled tough in doubles taking the Bobcats' top two double teams to the brink before falling late.

In singles action, Utah Tech earned a point at number six singles with freshman Kylie Kezos pulling out a third set tiebreaker over Hudson Hawkins winning 6-4, 1-6, 11-9.

LOOK BACK AT THE FALL SCHEDULE

• UNLV WATANABE CLASSIC: Utah Tech earned three wins in the tournament with a seventh place match of the Flight 1 Doubles pairing, Mariana Berdecio and Annemiek Sterk, earned a 7-5 win over Dolavee Tumthong/Ava Neyestani of Northern Arizona.
• ITA MOUNTAIN REGIONALS: The Trailblazers earned a pair of wins in singles (Adithi Venkatakrishnan & Kylie Kezos) and one in doubles (Kylie Kezos & Ana Guiterrez Sampre) at the ITA Mountain Regionals hosted by Utah in Salt Lake City on Oct. 18-21.
• IDAHO STATE FALL INVITATIONAL: In the Orange Singles Draw, sophomore Adithi Venkatakrishnan and freshman Mariana Zurita both picked up victories in that bracket. In the Doubles "A" Draw, the duo of senior Ya-Chi Hsu and Venkatakrishnan bounced back from a first round loss to advance to the Consolation final, while the tandem of Rachel Mellor and Mariana Zurita won their first match, but the duo was eliminated in the Championship Bracket semifinals. In the Doubles "B" Draw, the freshman team of Ana Gutierrez Sampere and Olivia Bustos bounced back from a first round loss with two victories to win the Consolation Bracket title.

2024 ROSTER
The 2023-24 roster consists of 11 student-athletes with four freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and three seniors.

The Trailblazers return six student-athletes from last year while welcoming four freshmen and one junior college transfer in Laura Coulome.

Seven Trailblazers are from outside of the United States while four Blazers hail from the United States.

HEAD COACH ERIC PELTON
Eric Pelton is in his 18th season as the head coach of the Utah Tech women's tennis program in 2024.

Utah Tech has racked up 98 wins over his 17 seasons leading the Trailblazers and helped lead then-Dixie State to a career-high 13 wins in 2018-19 and added six more in the COVID-19 shortened season of 2019-20.

2023 IN REVIEW
Utah Tech went 2-19 in dual action in the spring season with a pair of 7-0 wins over Eastern Arizona. The Trailblazers went 0-9 in WAC action and took Seattle to seven points at home on March 26 falling to the Redhawks, 4-3.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers stay on the road next weekend traveling to Arizona for three matches taking on Arizona Christian (Feb. 17), Mesa CC (Feb. 18) and Ottawa University (Feb. 19).