Ag tennis rebounds after tough loss to BSU
In its second week of action, the Utah State men’s tennis team picked up a win and a loss on the road at a tournament hosted by Boise State. The Aggies lost to the hosting Broncos, 1-6, on Friday before bouncing back and beating a tough Montana State team, 4-3, improving their record to 1-2 on the season.
Boise State, who is ranked 22nd in the country and is in sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference and the Mountain Region (which includes the WAC, Mountain West, and Big Sky conferences), came into the match and the tournament heavily favored. But Utah State sophomore Matt Searle saved the Aggies from a sweep as he was the lone victor for USU on Friday, winning his very first collegiate singles match. Searle won at the No. 6 spot, outplaying and outlasting Bronco Jamaal Hepburn, 6-3, 7-5.
“(Searle) played awesome for us,” said USU assistant coach Lukas Bouton, who played four years as an Aggie under current head coach Christian Wright. “He played tough the whole way through.”
At the No. 1 spot, freshman Jakob Asplund split sets but lost in a third-set tie-breaker to Boise State’s Steve Robertson, 3-6, 6-3, 9-11. Sophomore Oscar Ericsson nearly notched a win in second singles before falling to Brent Werbeck, 4-6, 6-7 (5).
Elsewhere, things didn’t look so good for the Aggies. Despite close matches, the experienced Broncos took it to the Aggies, sweeping all three doubles matches, 8-3, 8-3, 8-0, respectively. In singles, seniors Fernando Gallegos and Jonas Tyden and junior Mike Banks each lost in straight sets.
“(Boise State is) one of the best teams in the country,” Wright said. “The effort was there, they were just a tough team.”
As a result of the loss, the Aggies were down, but not out of the tournament.
The next day the Aggies rebounded against another tough region opponent: Montana State.
“We talked about how we had to come in with the belief that we could beat a high-caliber team like Montana State,” Bouton said. “It was that belief that put us on top in the end.”
The Aggies started by winning two of the three doubles matches, securing the first point of the match. Tyden and Asplund ripped through their opponents at No. 1 doubles, winning 8-1. Ericsson and Gallegos sealed up the doubles victory with a narrow win at the No. 2 spot, besting MSU’s Justin Hauk and Pawel Turzanski, 9-7.
In singles action, the Aggies were once again led by Asplund and Ericsson, both of whom scored straight-set victories. Gallegos and Tyden would fall at the No. 3 and 4 spots, as did Searle at No. 6. But with Banks coming up big against in a three-set victory over Hauk at No. 5 singles, the Aggies were able to edge the Bobcats 4-3 for the win.
“I was really proud of our guys,” Bouton said. “We had every member of the team get at least one win. Everyone stood out this weekend.”
The Aggies will try to improve their record next week as they stay on the road, facing the University of Utah in Salt Lake. -jackson.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu