Tennis shutdown by conference opponent
Utah State’s men’s tennis team might have felt like they were going up against the world on Friday afternoon, not just another Big West Conference rival.
With players from China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Canada, Ireland and Iceland, the Pacific Tigers showed off their international talent by defeating the Aggies 6-1.
“They’re very deep at every position,” assistant coach Steve Peterson said. “They’re a strong team.”
Though the score was a bit lopsided, a few of the day’s matches were very close and could have gone either way.
“I felt like we had a chance the whole time,” Peterson said. “We were just a little impatient and that hurt us.”
One of the better matches on the day came thanks to USU’s Jason Trask and Pacific’s Michael Duong in No. 3 singles. Trask and Duong each put forth tremendous effort, going back and forth the whole match.
“[Duong] is very smart, very quick, it was a mirror image of how I play,” said Trask. “I just tried to do whatever I could to tick him off.”
During the final set, rain and hail was coming down so hard on the protective bubble, that play was postponed for several minutes. In the end, however, Duong came out on top, winning 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (10-7).
“Jason gives more effort than anyone I’ve ever seen,” said Peterson. “He has a lot of matches like this where he shouldn’t come back, but he always does. He is always impressive. His effort is incredible.”
“The fact that I turned it around is a bit of a consolation,” said Trask. “I think I can change things up when I need to, and he struggled closing it out.”
No. 6 singles Ryan Bair was the lone Aggie with a win against Pacific. Going against the Tigers’ Robert Price, Bair ran away with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
In No. 2 singles, sophomore Hannes Shenck had his work cut out for him with Pacific’s Arnar Sigurdssun. Sigurdssun recently won both his singles and doubles matches at the 2004 Davis Cup for his native country Iceland, helping lead Iceland to a 5th place finish.
Shenck played a hard fought match against Sigurdssun, losing the first set 4-6, then coming back in the second set with a 6-4 win, before losing the final set 3-6.
“It was a tough match,” said Sigurdssun. “[Shenck’s] a very good player.”
Hungsoon Park, the Aggies’ No. 1 singles player, was defeated by Pacific’s Lennart Maack, 6-4, 6-3. Park’s spring singles record drops to 4-2. Maack, the German sophomore, is ranked 121 in the nation, and was named All-Big West Conference First Team in singles and in doubles his freshman year.
In doubles play, Park and Shenck were narrowly defeated by Maack and Sigurdssun, 8-6. Bair and freshman Tyler Bastian also were defeated in doubles, the pair lost to Duong and sophomore Tyler Black.
“Pacific is always a tough team and they have some tremendous players,” said Peterson. “We played some incredible matches today, but the depth they have at every position was hard to overcome.”
Although the Aggies didn’t come out on top, Peterson said he was pleased with the team’s progress this season.
“We played hard today,” said Peterson. “We had some great individual effort out there.”
Sigurdssun also said he has seen progress in the Aggies.
“We beat [USU] the last few years, but they’ve improved a lot,” he said. “The players are a lot better.”
USU will again play at home on Tuesday, April 13, against Idaho State. With an 8-10 record, the Aggies will try to inch closer to a .500 record with a win against ISU.
The women’s tennis team also played on Friday, with identical results. The lady Aggies lost to Idaho 6-1, falling to 4-11 overall. Amid the lowlight of Friday’s defeat, there was one bright spot. Freshman Courtney Anderson won both her singles and doubles matches for the second time in three matches.
Anderson partnered up with Richelle Moon to win the No. 2 doubles match. Anderson and Moon have won three of their last four doubles matches. In number four singles, Anderson won in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6. She is now 5-2 in singles play this spring.
The Aggies will be back in Logan to face Idaho State April 12 at 1 p.m.
-bcb@cc.usu.edu
Tennis Player Tyler Bastian follows through after returning a volley against Pacific Friday. (Photo by Ryan Talbot)