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SALT LAKE CITY — A University of Utah tennis player was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting a woman.
Berk Bugarikj, 21, is charged in 3rd District Court with three counts of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy and object rape, all first-degree felonies.
Bugarikj "is from Macedonia and is a scholarship student" at the U., according to charging documents.
"We are aware of the criminal charges filed against a men's tennis student-athlete. Upon initially learning in November 2024 of an accusation against the student-athlete, the athletics department immediately suspended the student-athlete. In January 2025, when no charges had been filed against the student-athlete, the suspension was lifted with the condition that it would be reapplied should charges be filed in the case," the Utah Athletics Department said in a statement Tuesday.
"We treat allegations of significant misconduct very seriously, and the student-athlete has again been suspended."
In November, Bugarikj went to a Salt Lake bar with friends and then back to his residence. At Bugarikj's residence, he and a woman began consensual kissing, but the woman told him she did not want to have sex, the charges state.
Prosecutors say Bugarikj, however, sexually assaulted the woman multiple times that night.
"(Bugarikj) could not believe she was not interested in having sex with him and took it upon himself and forced her to engage" in sexual conduct, the charges allege.
Bugarikj just completed his junior year at Utah, according to his bio, and was the team's No. 1 singles player.
Contributing: Josh Furlong
