Men’s tennis sends Wildcats home with loss
Utah State’s men’s tennis team used the momentum from winning its first doubles point of the season to propel it to a 6-1 victory over Weber State Tuesday.
“[We] were glad to get the doubles point,” said Utah State Head Coach Chris Wright. “It’s been eluding us. It looks like we completely controlled [the match], but they played hard. We just came up with a couple important points here and there.”
This time there was no doubt the men had the doubles point as they swept the Wildcats in doubles play.
Jason Trask and Ryan Bair played a near flawless game, Wright said. The duo was quickly able to defeat Wildcats Andrew Corlett and Daniel Abeaboeru 8-1 .
“We played really good doubles,” Trask said. “It was nice to get on and off the court quickly. It was a relief for the rest of the match.”
Roshan Rasekhi said, “Great progress overall. It was a great confidence builder and great to have that point heading into singles. Communication is a big part of doubles and we were able to communicate really well.”
Hungsoon Park and Rasekhi also had a win on their court, taking down WSU’s Jonathan Engelbrecht and Spencer Marchant.
Hannes Schenk and Jonah Nelson also played well, bringing in a win against Zach Rideout and Travis Covington 8-6.
“It was nice going into singles without the pressure of having to make up that [doubles] point,” Nelson said. “We came out more intense and with more emotion than before.”
The Aggies didn’t look like they had any pressure as they played strong in singles and won the first five spots.
Trask, playing at the number three singles, picked up his sixth singles win of the season, defeating WSU’s Rideout 6-2, 6-1.
“Usually Weber competition is very tight,” Trask said. “My freshman year playing was the first time we ever beat them. Overall, we played really well.”
Park, playing at number one singles, defeated Weber’s Engelbrect 6-4, 6-4. Rasekhi played hard at the number two spot and defeated Mathis Saberon 7-5, 6-4. Schenk and Nelson both brought home wins against Covington and Corlett.
“We did a pretty good job of staying focused,” Wright said. “We got down a couple times, but we were able to bounce back for the win.”
Bair, playing at number six singles, was the only Aggie to fall. Marchant defeated him 4-6, 6-2, (6-10).
“It was too bad about Ryan’s match,” Wright said. “It’s kind of hard to sit around for a couple hours and get the intensity back.”
The team was happy with its performance, but as Nelson said there is always room for improvement.
Rasekhi added, “Some people didn’t play so well but came through with the win. They were able to finish it out.”
Trask said, “We stuck with our guns and plowed forward.”
This weekend, the men head to Las Vegas for a tournament where they will play on Friday against New Mexico State and, depending on whether or not they win, Saturday and Sunday.
They are looking forward to the trip and the teams they will play against.
“We have some high expectations,” Rasekhi said. “It will be a tough match against New Mexico, [but] we will go in there believing we can win.”
Trask said, “We need to stay positive and upbeat and play with confidence. We could cause some real damage down there.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu