Ags not all there in Weber State loss
A lack of intensity cost the USU men’s tennis team Thursday afternoon.
The Weber State Wildcats left Logan with a 4-3 victory over the Aggies in a match between the two teams at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
“As long as I’ve been up here, we’ve never lost to Weber,” said USU’s Hannes Schenk, a senior and a native of Meran, Italy. “But it’s a good wake-up call for all of us. We know what we have to work on.”
For Aggie Head Coach Chris Wright, whose team dropped to 1-2 on the spring season, it was clear afterwards where the Aggies needed to improve.
“All week long we were saying don’t underestimate this team,” Wright said. “But I don’t know if that sunk in. And I don’t know individually what they were thinking. That was never my mindset that it was gonna be an easy match at all. It’s always a battle.”
The Aggies failed to capture the doubles point early on.
The Wildcats’ Travis Covington and Mario Schnabl defeated the Aggies’ Schenk and Dantley Young, 8-5 on court No. 1.
Fabino Mancarella and Dave Hintze grabbed another win on court No. 2 to seal the doubles point for the Wildcats, dropping the Aggies’ Jonas Tyden and Oscar Ericsson, 8-6.
It was only the Aggies’ Mike Banks and Fernando Gallegos who quickly won their doubles match, 8-2.
In singles play, the Wildcats and Aggies each won three matches.
“Things happen out there, and sometimes they don’t go your way,” Wright said. “They played really well. I don’t think we were as up for the match as we needed to be.”
Wright said the Aggies could have won “in a number of different ways,” but were their own worst enemy by not converting on first serves.
“That hurt us because we’re playing from behind,” Wright said. “[Weber State] did a really good job. They were loose and able to go after some shots. It’s just like in basketball if you’re up 10 points, you feel a little loose and you take the outside shot because things are kind of going your way. That’s what happened. They played from the lead with confidence.
“We were just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Wright said.
Two of the Wildcats’ singles wins came with little resistance.
Mancarella zoomed by USU’s Ericsson, 6-3, 6-1 on court No. 1.
Schnable did likewise against Young, tallying a 6-3, 6-3 triumph on court No. 3.
Hintze had a slightly more difficult time with his Aggie opponent, Gallegos. Gallegos took the first set, 6-4, before an injury hindered his abilities in the next to sets, of which he lost both, 3-6, 1-6.
On the bright side for the Aggies, Schenk, Tyden and Banks won their respective singles matches.
Tyden’s came with the most ease – a 6-1, 6-4 dismantling of the Wildcats’ Chris Williams.
Always happy with Tyden’s performance, Wright said Tyden does something that wasn’t completely characteristic of other team members during Thursday’s match.
“He doesn’t underestimate people,” Wright said. “He consistently goes out there and gives me everything he’s got. I never have to worry about him. He’s a fighter.”
Though Schenk was victorious in his first set against Covington, 6-4, Covington fought back to take the second set, 6-3.
That didn’t bother Schenk too much, considering he won the third, 6-4.
“I’ve been playing tennis for a long time, and I’ve noticed I feel pretty fit physically overall, so I don’t mind playing a third set,” Schenk said. “Historically I’ve won more third sets than lost. I don’t mind it. (But) it always sucks to have to run extra.”
By the time Banks’ match against Cole Paterson had come to the end of the second set, the Wildcats held a 4-2 match lead, therefore making a win or a loss for either side irrelevant to the final outcome.
Banks had won the first set, 6-0. Paterson took the second set, 7-5. To save time, the referee then decided to have them play a super tiebreaker instead of a complete third set.
Banks won that, 10-8, to give the Aggies their third point of the day.
“Unfortunately this is a team sport, and even though I’m happy I won as an individual, we lost today and it sucks for us,” Schenk said. “We’re gonna do better next time. I’m pretty sure about that.”
Luckily for the Aggies, Schenk added, it wasn’t a conference loss.
The Aggies travel to Pocatello Feb. 23 for a 1:30 p.m. match against the Idaho State Bengals.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu