USU women netters see loss as a learning experience
PROVO — The score doesn’t indicate just how close the match was.
BYU may have swept the Utah State women’s tennis team, 7-0, Friday in Provo, but the Aggies were still competitive.
“For the most part I think we were in there for every single point and the score doesn’t always say everything,” said USU doubles player Holly Anderson.
Aggie co-captain Shelly Ferguson said, “We kept with them pretty much throughout every single match that I saw. We stayed with them.”
The difference in the matches was the Cougar’s ability to control the momentum and tempo.
In both No. 1 and No. 3 singles, USU was able to take 3-0 leads in the second set only to see BYU score six straight points for the victory.
Although the Aggies were not intimidated to be facing the Cougars for the first time since 1989, USU Head Coach Chris Wright said confidence did drop at times during the match.
“I don’t think we were intimidated at all in the beginning,” he said. “After losing a couple of big points we let our confidence drop. We can’t do that. We didn’t see anybody necessarily back down but I don’t think they were as assertive as we could have been.”
Opening the match with doubles play, the Aggies fell behind early as BYU won all three matches to pick up the point.
The No. 1 USU duo of Caroline Pollock and Lindsey Bennion fell 8-5 to Dominique Reynolds and Leeza Klempner while at No. 3, Rebecca Pike and Olga Boulytcheva shutout Aggies Jill Smith and Andrea Hansen 8-0.
“At No. 1 doubles we were right there,” Wright said. “They just did a good job of taking care of the break points and holding their serve. We got a little bit of a slow start at No. 2 and 3 doubles, but the effort was there.”
The Aggies saw a change from their normal lineup at No. 2 doubles. Playing with Carolyn Larsen, Anderson saw her first action of the year, taking the place of Haley Hawkins who missed the match because she was not feeling well. Wright said a doctor will evaluate Hawkins, but he is unsure how long she will be out.
Larsen and Anderson dropped the match 8-1 to Nicole Schneider and Hadley MacFarlene. Playing with a different partner wasn’t too difficult of an adjustment, though, Anderson said.
“I think Carolyn has a very solid doubles game, and I feel like I’ve been working on mine,” she said. “We both just went out and played our game.”
And despite playing in her first match of the season and competing at BYU, Anderson said she wasn’t nervous for her match.
“Usually I’m just shaking and can’t focus, but I just picked a couple of things to focus on and it took the pressure off a little bit,” she said.
In singles play the Aggies remained competitive, but were unable to rebound after doubles.
Faced with needed four match wins for the victory, the Aggies were unable to take a set from the Cougars.
At No. 1, Reynolds defeated Pollock 6-2, 6-3, Klempner topped Larsen 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 2 spot and Bennion fell to Boulytcheva at No. 3 spot 6-2,
6-3.
In the other three matches, Pike won over Ferguson at No. 4 spot 6-2, 6-1, Schneider slid by Smith 6-3, 6-1, at No. 5 and at No. 6 MacFarlene won 6-3, 6-2 over Hansen, who was playing in her first singles match.
“It was great [to play singles],” Hansen said. “It’s different in singles because you’re by yourself and it’s all up to you and puts pressure on, but it’s just so exciting to compete alone.”
The biggest factor in all the matches, Wright said, was shot selection.
“Every match we play we need to get better at shot selection and choosing our opportunities to attack. BYU did a better job of that today,” he said.
BYU improves to 1-2 on the season while the Aggies drop to 1-1.
Even with the loss, though, the Aggies are still moving forward.
“We’re learning from this match so I don’t think we went back at all,” Hansen said. “Personally, I took a lot of good things away from this match. Everybody did.”
After defeating Montana State University 6-1 to open the season, a loss to a tougher opponent may actually benefit the team, Ferguson said.
“I think it was good for all of us to experience a better team,” she said. “Whenever you lose you can learn a ton, almost more than if you win.”
–slbk5@cc.usu.edu