DENVER -- The University of Denver men's tennis team lost to the University of Utah, 6-1, Tuesday, in Salt Lake City.

The Pioneers, playing their second straight match without senior Tomasz Wawrzyniak (Inowroclaw, Poland) were forced to change their lineups. Denver dropped all three doubles matches before losing five of the six matches on the singles courts.

Junior Jay Patel (Ahemedabad, India), who typically plays at No. 4, moved up to the No. 3 slot and earned Denver's lone victory, defeating the Ute's Corrie Scheepers. Scheepers won the first set but had to quit in the second set following an injury, giving Patel the win.

Denver (9-8) will return home to the Stapleton Tennis Pavilion to close out the 2000-01 regular season with a 2 p.m. contest against in-state rival Colorado, Thursday (Apr. 12). Following the conclusion of the regular season, the Pioneers will head to the Sun Belt Conference tournament (April 20-22) hosted by the University of South Alabama.

Match Results

Singles
Dave Mercier (Utah) def. Boris Turkic, 6-2, 7-5
Kevin Zenger (Utah) def. Magnus Ramfelt, 6-3, 6-4
Jay Patel (DEN) def. Corrie Scheepers, 4-6, 2-1 (default)
Nik Yip (Utah) def. Trevor Young, 7-5, 6-4
Daniel Carlsson (Utah) def. Mike Ceilley, 6-3, 6-4
Tyler Poulson (Utah) def. Lachlan Menzies, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
Mercier/Yip (Utah) def. Turkic/Menzies, 8-1
Carlsson/Poulson (Utah) def. Ramfelt/Young, 8-3
Zenger/Scheepers (Utah) def. Ceilley/Patel, 8-6