Women’s tennis gets first win
It was a set of firsts for Utah State’s women’s tennis team against Idaho State on Wednesday. They got their first doubles point of the season and their first win of the season, defeating ISU 5-2.
The match started with the Aggie women winning their first doubles point of the season when sophomore Jill Smith and freshman Lauren Monson won their doubles match, defeating ISU’s doubles duo 8-3.
Sophomore Andrea Hansen and senior Richelle Moon got their first win in doubles defeating the Bengal pair 8-5. They sent the Aggies to a 2-1 win for the doubles point.
“This first team win is awesome for us,” Hansen said. “I think everybody was happy with the way they played, there was something extra there that wasn’t there against Gonzaga.”
Utah State Head Coach Chris Wright said, “They did a great job today. They fought hard and were patient and played a lot smarter. They competed all the way through. I am really proud of them.”
Some of the Aggies were also able to serve up their first singles wins of the season. Sophomore Lindsey Bennion defeated ISU’s Melanie Kranz in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 at the number one singles spot.
Smith was also able to come up with a victory. She defeated Denise Cockrell at the number two singles spot 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Hansen took down Idaho’s Katherine Zigars in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 10-7.
“This is a real confidence booster for us,” Hansen said.
The Aggies were unable to sweep the Bengals as the men’s tennis team fell 4-3 on Tuesday.
“We came up a little short, didn’t play well at all,” Wright said. “They were fighting hard, but there were some gaps in concentration and we lost focus on doubles.”
Jason Trask was able to pick up another win in the number three singles as he defeated ISU’s Ivan Moferdin 6-2, 6-3.
“We still have a lot of things we need to work on, but we’re going in the right direction,” Trask said.
Trask was not the only Aggie to pull out a win in singles play. Junior Hungsoon Park notched a win at the number one singles spot defeating ISU’s Hestian Stoica 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. The final points of the afternoon came from Aggie Jonah Nelson. He defeated the Bengal’s Jemre Okoh in a tough match decided by a super-tie breaker, 7-5, 6-7, 10-8.
“They came out and played well,” Wright said. “They stayed focused and won even though the match was already decided.”
Nelson said, “This was definitely a match we could have won. Our goals [for the season] are still the same though. We will just take it one match at a time and not look too far ahead or too far behind.”
The men’s team will play in Logan Saturday at 11 a.m. against Nevada.
The women’s team is also at home against Weber State Wednesday.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu