Aggies lose to No. 73 Alabama Birmingham
The Utah State men’s tennis team dropped its third match in a row to University of Alabama at Birmingham, Wednesday in Boise, Idaho. The No. 73 Blazers dismissed the Aggies 7-0.
“It was a quality opponent,” head coach Chris Wright said. “We are just losing some of the close ones.”
The double’s point eluded USU, as UAB won two of the three pro-sets.
Junior Sven Poslusny and partner freshman Marcus Fritz won the only match of the day in a tiebreaker. The pair defeated Tom Puetz and David Zimmerman 8-7 in the No. 1 doubles position. Poslusny said he and Fritz were ready to win a close match after losing so many.
“We have had a lot of close matches and this time we had more luck, more focus, and we were ready to win in the tiebreaker,” Poslusny said.
The win was not enough, since the Blazers had already quickly taken the other two doubles matches.
Daniel Moser and Danny Manlow defeated sibling duo, Andrew and Lenny Whiting, 8-1 in the No. 2 doubles position.
Senior Nate Ballam and freshman Matt Sweet tried to hang in with UAB’s Lucas Dirube and Chris Helliar but could not close out the match, losing 4-8 in the No. 3 doubles spot.
Wright said even though the team lost the doubles point, he was happy with how the Aggies played.
“We played great at number one doubles. As a pairing, (Poslusny and Fritz) have had a lot of close ones, and it was good to see them win one,” Wright said. “The brothers came out with great energy, and Ballam and Sweet had a great match as well,”
In singles action Utah State fared no better, dropping all singles matches, but not without a couple of three-set battles.
Poslusny took his opponent Manlow to three sets in the No. 1 singles position. The German native rebounded after losing the first set 2-6 to take the second 6-4. Poslusny could not hold off Manlow in the third, losing the match 2-6, 6-4, 4-6. Posluny said he felt like he played a great match that came down to a few points.
“In the first set I didn’t have rhythm, but in the second I found (it),” Poslusny said. “(My opponent) played a lot of serve and volley, and I had to make adjustments to my return and passing shots. It was one or two points in the third set that decided it.”
Fritz returned to singles action – after missing the last match because of a hip injury – to take on UAB’s Zimmerman in the No. 2 singles position. The freshman fell in straight sets 2-6, 2-6.
Sophomore Fredrick Peterson also fell in straight sets, losing to Helliar 2-6, 4-6 in the No. 3 singles position.
Junior Lenny Whiting mirrored Peterson, losing to Moser 2-6, 4-6 in the No. 4 singles position.
Ballam battled Puetz in the No. 5 singles position, pushing the Blazer to three sets. The senior dropped a close first set 5-7 but came back to take the second in a tiebreaker. The third set was replaced with a super tiebreaker – a tiebreaker to 10 points – as the Aggie’s fate was already sealed. Ballam narrowly missed taking the match falling 5-7, 7-6, 6-10.
Assistant coach Brian Marchant said Ballam’s great attitude on the court benefits his game.
“Ballam is a fighter, no matter whom is he playing,” Marchant said. “He always believes he can win, his opponent just came up with big shots.”
Sophmore Andrew Whiting finished the match with a loss in straight sets to James Gardner 3-6, 4-6 in the No. 6 singles position.
Wright said even though his team lost, he felt it played well.
“In singles everyone went out with good energy and everybody was battling,” Wright said. “I can’t fault them. I’m proud of the guys.”
The loss puts USU 4-8 on the season. The Aggies will return to Boise on March 31 to take on No. 14 Fresno State. The matchup will pit USU against the Western Athletic Conference leaders. Poslusny said he feels confident his team can compete against highly ranked team.
“It’s going to be a tough match. We have to play our best game – bring our A-game,” he said. “If everyone competes at the level that we can compete at, we can make it a match. I’m definitely excited for it.”
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu