Men’s tennis notches first-ever WAC win
What does a win in conference play, a first-place WAC standing, the No. 75 ITA ranking in the country, and the Student Athlete of the Week award mean for the Utah State Men’s Tennis Team? Simply put, another win and some momentum to go along with it.
On Saturday the team got their first Western Athletic Conference win in nearly four years, over those other Aggies of New Mexico State. The win put the hometown Aggies in first place in the WAC. Saturday’s victory was followed up by a historic No. 75 ranking for the Men’s tennis team. No previous Utah State team has ever been ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings, making the 2011 squad the first.
hey went into Wednesday’s match in Pocatello, against the Idaho State Bengals, looking to reach .500 on the year. Led by Jakob Asplund, last week’s Student Athlete of the Week, the Aggies had a decisive 5-2 victory over ISU.
In doubles play, USU swept all three matches. Coming off of a big win over New Mexico Sate’s No. 38 ITA-ranked doubles team of Arthur Surreaux and Jim Brouleau, USU’s Bryan Marchant and Sven Poslusny opened with an 8-3 win over the Bengals’ Dan Buckingham and Dakota Pate. Poslusny and Marchant were followed up by another win from Asplund and partner Fredrik Peterson, 8-6. The third win came from Alex Thatcher and Nate Ballam, 8-5.
After going up 1-0 with the doubles point, the Aggies handled the Bengals in singles play, taking four wins to ISU’s two. Poslusny kept things going with a win over Danel Barrenechea 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Asplund also won his bout with a two-set win over Dakota Pate. Marchant claimed the victory in the No. 4 spot, sealing the team’s second win on the year. Alex Thatcher added a little icing on the cake in fifth singles with a three-set win over Diego Cavalcanti 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.
The Aggies improved their record to 2-2 on the year and remain 1-0 in WAC play.
USU will be on the road again this afternoon when they take on the University of Utah Utes. The Aggies will be looking to avenge a 5-2 loss from last year over the freshman-heavy Utes. The match will cap off a five-game road trip before they return to Logan on Feb. 4 to take on Mesa State.
– bret.clapier@aggiemail.usu.edu