Women’s tennis back on track
Energy may have been lacking early and comebacks were necessary, but the Utah State University women’s tennis team won its final home match of the season.
In only their fourth match at home, the Aggies defeated Idaho State University, 4-3, Wednesday at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
“Everybody got a piece of the win today,” USU Head Coach Chris Wright said. “Everybody went out there and fought hard. It was just a good team effort.”
The win improves the Aggies to 6-8 overall and halts a four-match skid.
“I was a little concerned in the beginning,” Wright said. “We’ve been talking about getting up for matches, getting energized. I don’t think we showed really any energy and maybe there just wasn’t anything to get excited about for the first little while. Then finally everybody started to get into it a little more.”
Despite Wright’s concern, Utah State took the first lead, winning the team doubles point, 2-1.
The Aggies’ No. 1 doubles pairing of Sarah Lowe and Caroline Pollock were unable to pick up the win, falling to Ika Kakulia and Eka Jvania, 8-4.
At No. 2, Carolyn Larsen and Haley Hawkins earned the win for the Aggies, defeating Carol Tolsma and Hayli Scott, 8-6, to even the doubles matches.
The turning point for the Aggies in doubles came at No. 3. Trailing 4-1 to Melanie Kranz and Lauren Dial, USU’s Jocee Bergeson and Amy Thatcher won seven of the final eight games to pick up the 8-5 victory.
“I felt like at the end of the doubles all three teams were doing what they needed to do,” Wright said.
With the doubles point secured, the Aggies needed only to split the six singles matches to pick up the victory.
At No. 1 and No. 2 the Aggies stumbled, as Lowe was defeated, 6-3, 6-0, by Kakulia and Bergeson lost to Jvania, 6-4, 6-2.
It was the middle part of the lineup doing the work for the Aggies though. Pollock swept her first set, 6-0, but the fell behind 4-1 in the second to Scott. Pollock was able to rally though, tying the score, 6-6, and then winning the tiebreaker to win the set, 7-6, and the match.
“Most people down 4-1, you already got a set in your pocket, just kind of tank that last couple of games and just get started on the third [set],” Wright said. “I think that’s a credit to [Pollock] that she did focus, she did fight her way through.”
At No. 4, Shelly Ferguson picked up the tiebreaker in her first set against Tolsma to win, 7-6, and then won five straight games to open the second set. Tolsma then won three straight, but Ferguson regrouped and won the set, 6-3, for the match.
“[Winning the tiebreaker] gave me a lot of confidence,” Ferguson said. “After I finished the first set I felt I could for sure do another one. It definitely was a confidence builder.”
Ferguson said she was able to take control of the match by being aggressive in the second set.
“I started coming to the net and hitting more volleys,” she said. “I was aggressive the last game and that finished it off.”
Wright said, “She probably volleyed the best I’ve seen her during the second set.”
A victory at No. 5 by Larsen clinched the match for the Aggies. Larsen defeated Kristina Arutjunova, 6-2, 6-0.
“I was my best friend out on the court,” Larsen said. “It made me so much less critical so it was a lot easier to recoup and get back into the game.”
ISU won the final match as Kranz defeated Hawkins, 6-2, 6-4.
“It was a good team effort but there were some girls on our team that were a bit disappointed with the way some things went and it’s better to be that way,” Wright said. “If they kind of shrugged it off, that would concern me more than them being upset. We’ve got to be upset or otherwise you’ve kind of accepted losing.”
This was the second time this season the Aggies have defeated the Bengals. Earlier this spring in Pocatello, Idaho, the Aggies won by an identical 4-3 score. The Aggies earned the victory then by winning four of the six singles matches after losing the doubles point.