Netters unable to avoid third match jinx
Beating a team three straight times in one year is hard to do, Utah State University men’s tennis coach Chris Wright said. Just ask the Aggie men’s basketball team after its loss to Montana State University in the first round of the NIT.
That principle was affirmed Wednesday afternoon at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club as the USU men’s tennis team was denied a season sweep of Idaho State University, dropping a hard-fought 4-3 decision to the Bengals.
Playing their last match before the Big West Conference Championships, Wright said Wednesday’s match served as a great wake-up call for the Aggies with the Big West tournament only two weeks away.
“Maybe it’s good to lose right now, just because we need to work hard in a couple of areas,” he said. “Maybe we don’t want to squeak by doing the wrong things right now, because then we go in with a false sense [of security].
“We have the talent to compete with pretty much any team around [this area],” he said. “We’ve proven that we can play good tennis, but we can’t do it and not be 100 percent focused.”
Despite the Aggies not playing their best tennis and struggling a little bit with their first-serve percentage, Wright said, it was still anyone’s match as USU and ISU went 3-3 in singles play.
However, with the match-deciding doubles point being contested, the Bengals jumped out to early 4-1 leads in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, making it extremely difficult for the Aggies to overcome, Wright said.
“We got down 4-1 at No. 1 and 4-1 at No. 3, and that’s a long way to come back from in a pro set,” he said.
ISU’s Hestian Stoica and Adam Krupp went on to the defeat Andy Madersbacher and Clayton Thomas in No. 1 doubles (8-5), and Butch Stavridis and Mike Chester beat Jordan Butler and Sam Harris, 8-4, giving ISU the doubles point and the 4-3 victory.
USU’s No. 2 tandem of Steve Peterson and Jason Trask squeaked past Vasico Devidze and Chris Sadek, 9-7, in a match both Trask and Peterson said their collective competitive fire willed them to victory.
“We started off the match with a lot of intensity,” Peterson said. “We just kind of feed off of each other.”
It was this competitive fire which Peterson said helped him rally from an opening set loss to Sadek in singles. Peterson blanked Sadek in the third and decisive set to win going away, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.
“If I don’t have a little fire under me, then I don’t play well,” he said. “When I start pumping my fist, than I know that I’m going to be into the match.”
Madersbacher and Trask continued to gain momentum going into the BWC Championships as both players won their third consecutive singles match, with Trask trouncing Stavridis, 6-1, 6-0, and Madersbacher prevailing over Devidze, 6-4, 6-3.
Known for his ability to counter-punch from the baseline before this season, Trask was able to keep Stavridis on his heels with deep approach shots. He won a lot of points at the net – something Trask said was a goal of his before the season started.
“[Volleying is] something I wanted to work on because I knew that was the next step I needed to take [to get better],” he said. “It’s an adjustment, but I’m working on it.”
In the other singles matches, Butler overcame an early break of serve to defeat Krupp in a first-set tiebreaker, but saw his three-match singles winning streak come to an end as Krupp won, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.
ISU’s Stoica was victorious over Thomas, 6-1, 6-3, and Chester picked up the Bengals’ third singles victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Harris – a player Wright said has improved his game a great deal in the latter half of the season.
“Sam’s level of play has jumped up two or three notches over the last couple of weeks,” he said.
With the regular season now over, Wright said the Aggies will play challenge matches against each other to prepare for the league tourney. The BWC Championships will be held April 25 and 26 in Ojai, Calif.