Ags happy to be home: USU hosts first and only tournament of the fall
The USU men’s tennis team did not win the Utah State Fall Invitational tournament, but head coach Christian Wright said he feels it was a success.
“It was just nice to host a tournament,” Wright said. “We’ve been traveling with BYU and Boise and Utah. It’s nice to have an event here, and it’s been really good for our team.”
USU sophomore Jakob Asplund advanced to the semi-final round, but lost the match 7-6, 6-1.
“Today I just didn’t get the timing right. I didn’t get anything working,” Asplund said.
USU senior Mike Banks and junior Alex Thatcher also did well on the final day during consolation play. Thatcher won the match against USU freshman Brandon Nelson, 7-6, 6-1, and Banks beat Erik Sheldon from Boise State, 7-6, 6-2.
The Aggies started the tournament well Thursday with Amit Maharaj, Jordan Wasden, Jordan Barlow and Bryan Marchant, all winning in the round of 32.
Wasden beat Boise State sophomore Erik Sheldon in a tight match, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. Marchant shut out Weber State’s Nelson Whiting, 6-0, 6-0. Maharaj beat Weber State’s Travis Covington, 7-5, 6-3, and Barlow swept Dan Lindsay, 6-0, 6-0.
Amit Maharaj lost to Weber State’s Hipp Henning, 6-1, 6-1, in the round of 16. Bryan Marchant won a tight match with Boise State’s Michael Gilliland, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, in the same round. Asplund and Jordan Barlow also advanced through the round of 16.
Three Utah State doubles teams made it to the quarterfinal round of play, but none advanced to the semifinals.
USU’s Matt Searle and Wasden defeated Dan Lindsey and Matt Thatcher 8-3 in the first round of doubles. Brandon Nelson and Thatcher beat Weber State’s Travis Covington and Chris Williams, 9-8, and Asplund and Maharaj defeated Weber State’s Jared Burnham and Nick Plum, 8-6.
“I don’t think we played our best doubles in this tournament,” Wright said. “We’ve tried different combinations in almost every tournament, so we probably could have stuck with a couple different pairings and maybe even done better, but it’s been good for us to see everybody trying some different pairings.”
USU will continue play Oct. 15-19 at the ITA Regionals in Las Vegas, Nev.
–p.d.k@aggiemail.usu.edu