Men’s tennis goes 1-1 in Texas
After losing to No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday, the Utah State men’s tennis team won 4-0 on Sunday over University of Texas-San Antonio.
With the win, the Aggies pushed their record to 8-4 on the season.
“I was really happy,” said USU head coach Clancy Shields. “Our guys gave a very gritty performance.”
The win by USU is their second win of the year over UTSA, with a win coming for them earlier this season on January 24th.
“You can ask any coach across the board, to beat a team twice in a couple weeks is difficult,” Shields said. “It’s a testament to our guys being resilient and tough. They came together today very well.”
It was the first game of the season for the Aggies to be played outdoors. The conditions were not ideal, with winds reaching 30 miles per hour at times during the match.
“It’s a totally different environment (outdoors),” Shields said.
A key part of USU’s victory was the play of freshman Romai Ugarte. Ugarte and Luis Lopez won their doubles match in a tiebreaker, and Ugarte also won his singles matchup in straight sets despite trailing 4-1 in the second set.
“Today was one of the days where all the effort and hard work I’ve put in finally gave results,” Ugarte said. “I was down 4-1 in the second set, but I had that will to fight for my team to come back and win the set 6-4.”
Ugarte’s health was a concern for the Aggies. He was struck in the face Saturday by a 90 mile per hour serve, breaking his nose.
“It was no excuse,” Ugarte said. “I’m over it. These things happen.”
“We thought he broke his nose,” Shields said. “But he came out today and didn’t even think twice about it. I’m really happy for him and the direction he’s headed in.”
With such a young roster, Shields has emphasized improvement to his team this season, and is pleased with the growth of his team to this point.
“Come the end of April, I think we’re going to be ready for the conference tournament,” Shields said.
The Aggies are back in action next Sunday as they host Gonzaga. The match will be played at 1 p.m. at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
— dawson.oler@gmail.com
Twitter: @DawsonOler