Women win, men lose in weekend tennis action
The Utah State women went 2-1 over the weekend in three home conference matches matches and the Aggie men went 0-3 on the road against three difficult opponents.
The women
The ladies’ team was able to do something it had been unable to do all year long to that point. They were able to give the broom to their opponent in a clean sweep of Louisiana Tech at the Logan Sports Academy and Racquet Club Friday morning. What’s more, they managed to defeat the Spartans from San Jose State that same evening in Logan at the end of a long day of WAC conference matches.
Coach Christian Wright said he was pleased with the wins.
“I don’t feel bad about it,” he said. “It was good tennis. It was good to have some matches to host. We had the morning match, and the girls did a good job. We had a solid win there, then had some down time while the other team played. We came back, and we were focused and ready to go. That’s the best we’ve played doubles all year against San Jose. They were very close, hard-fought points, but we were able to get those.”
In the routing of Louisiana Tech, notable was the match between Lady Aggie Bridgette Strickland and Tech’s Rocio Juarez. Strickland took a three game lead in the first set, and that’s where it ended. Juarez injured her foot on a very difficult play and could not finish the match. Also notable was the dominating doubles play that USU employed against the Lady Techsters. Hailey Swenson and Strickland swept their set with apparent ease, 8-0. Also, Carla Limon and Monica Abella defeated their opponents, 8-4. It allowed USU to capture the doubles point for the first time in weeks.
The ladies’ team then took a breather while Louisiana Tech and San Jose State played against each other, and reconvened to take on the Spartans, defeating them 4-3.
In contrast to the victory against Louisiana, the second group of matches were much closer and much more difficult to win, especially from Strickland’s standpoint. Strickland was able to win the first of the two sets after sending the winning game into seven deuces. In tennis, two sets will win a match, six games will win a set and four points will win a game. The only caveat is that the game must be won by two points. Near the end of the first set, Strickland had the advantage over San Jose’s Silvana Dukic, 5-4. Strickland and Dukic tied at three points apiece to send it into deuce. The game continued on for several more points and went back to a deuce (a tie) seven times before Strickland, whom her fans, family and team affectionately call “Bird,” was finally able to score two consecutive points to take the game and the set.
“It was just awesome because I’d just worked so hard,” Strickland said. “I’d worked hard for every single game. When it kept going back and forth to deuce, I just kept fighting and fighting. I knew I could get the point if I could just stay in it.”
Strickland recognized, however, her opponent’s skill.
“(Dukic) came up with great shots,” she said, “and I made a couple errors, but as I was just really patient and aggressive, I just finally came out with that set. I wasn’t happy if I ever lost a point, but I just used that to pump me up and get me ready for the next point.”
Wright also praised Strickland’s effort.
“That match was an absolute battle,” he said. “I mean, they were so evenly matched, and nobody was really budging, so the game just kind of went back to back all the way through. Strickland, in that game, that’s nerve-racking and she stayed positive, she stayed focused and got it and she really had to work hard for it, so credit to her for keeping her focus through that long game.”
Swenson, in contrast, totally dominated her opponent, Amber Silverstone, in the San Jose match. Swenson won 10 straight games, giving her a clean sweep in the first set, 6-0, and a sizable lead in the second before Silverstone made a short run in the second set to put her victory back within reach. Swenson said at that point she started feeling a bit nervous, but calmed herself and executed over the next two games, winning them both handily and giving her the victory.
“I just tried to stay positive and relax,” Swenson said. “My dad told me, ‘Play loose.’ So I told myself, ‘Loose as a goose,’ and then I just really focused on staying that way.”
Apparently it worked. There was a different feel in the Lady Aggies over Friday’s matches. They played with swagger and confidence – something that has been lacking from the team over a discouraging season. Momentum would not carry on into Saturday, however. The tables were turned on USU in Saturday’s match, as the visiting Wolf Pack of Nevada was able to get the clean sweep in straight sets over USU 7-0.
There were some differences in the Nevada match. The first was that the matches were played outdoors for the first time this season. Although USU has played outdoors several times before, Wright said being outside did play a factor in USU’s play.
“I think we’re in our comfort zone inside,” he said, “but everything is going to be outside. We just haven’t had that many days to play outside. We wanted to play outside because next week that’s what we’re going to be doing.”
Despite the different conditions the coach was proud of his team’s effort.
“We played really well,” Wright said. “We knew we’d have to play some of our best tennis to have a chance. We competed well, and they just played very solid. Nevada’s beaten everybody in the conference except for Boise and Fresno. They’re going into the tournament as the third seed and so they played pretty sharp. We had some chances here and there, and we’ve got make the most of those, but I really liked our effort. It just came down to execution and them coming up with some good shots.”
The men
Meanwhile, in Boise, the men represented USU as best they could. Despite their efforts, USU dropped all three matches against No. 19 Boise State, New Mexico State, and No. 66 Nevada.
Against No. 19 Boise State Friday, USU couldn’t manage to take the doubles point as the Broncos captured the number one and two spots. In singles play, USU suffered a clean sweep against individually ranked Broncos. No. 74 Kean Feeder and No. 82 James Meredith at the number one and two spots beat USU’s Jakob Asplund, 6-1, 6-1, and Bryan Merchant, 6-1, 6-1, respectively.
Saturday, USU took one singles point. Senior Aggie Mike Banks took USU’s point at the fourth position. He came from behind to defeat NMSU’s Stefan McKinney in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Also, Asplund was only narrowly defeated by Jim Brouleau at the number one spot, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
On Sunday, USU took to the courts against No. 66 Nevada, and fell against them. The Aggies lost the doubles point, but were able to avoid the sweep. Amit Mharaj and Banks won the only doubles set for USU, needing a tiebreaker to win against the Pack, 9-8, (8-5) at the number two position. At the one and three spots, Asplund and Merchant fell in a close set to Nevada’s Laurent Garcin and Augustin Myrad, 8-6, and Jordan Barlow and Guerin Smith fell against the Pack’s Wessim Derbel and Gabe Kanzelmeyer, 8-4. In singles play, Jordan Barlow dominated Guerin Smith, 6-0, 6-1.
Up next
For both the men’s and the women’s teams, it is now off to Hawaii for the WAC Championships. The championships are being hosted by the University of Hawaii and will take place from Thursday, April 23, to Sunday, April 26.
–la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu