Ag tennis players keep on winning
The Utah State men’s tennis team won their last match of the season and ran their win streak to six on Saturday as they defeated Northern Colorado 6-1.
While it may look like all of the Aggies’ singles players breezed through their matches by judging by the scores, that’s not how the matches played out, head coach Christian Wright said.
“You have to hand it to Northern Colorado,” Wright said. “They hustled out there and came out and competed really hard. There were a lot of good points so the score can be misleading.”
The Bears kept it close in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches winning the second 8-5 while losing by the same score in the No. 1 pairing. The Aggies picked up the doubles point with an 8-3 win at No. 3.
Pretty much the same thing happened in singles as the closest first sets came at No.1 and No. 2 singles.
Utah State’s Hannes Schenk won in straight sets at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-0.
Joao Pinho at No. 1 singles had a roller coaster of a match as he jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and was even up 5-2 before his wheels jumped the tracks. Casey Ross of NCU came all the way back to tie the set at 6-6.
In the tiebreak, Pinho was up 4-2 but he lost that lead and the set after losing the tiebreak 7-5.
Pinho once again started a little better after the dramatic loss and had the early 2-1 lead in the second set but Ross once again went on a run and took the match with a 6-2 win in the second set.
Roshan Rasekhi, who won earlier with Pinho at No. 1 doubles, won his No. 3 singles match 6-0, 6-1. Brad Ferguson won his No. 4 singles match 6-0, 6-0 and Mike Young won his No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-1.
Jonas Tyden won his No. 6 singles match in the closest second set that was played 6-2, 6-4.
This win puts the Aggies at 10-11 for the season but the men have won their last six matches to put them on a roll going into the Big West Conference tournament that starts this weekend.
“It gives them a lift,” Wright said. “I’ve got confidence in our players and hopefully [the win streak] will give them a little extra mental edge going in.”
For really the first time this season the Aggies played outside in nice conditions after having endured some pretty nasty wind during some earlier matches this spring.
The Aggie men will take on UC Santa Barbara Friday April 22 in Indian Wells, Calif.
“UCSB will be tough,” Wright said. “They’ve won the conference in the last couple of years. If we play well we’re going to have a shot.”
The Aggies will practice this week before they take off for California but there are still some things Wright would like to see improved between now and then.
Namely, the Ags need to tighten up on their unforced errors and get into the habit of moving consistently, Wright said.
In some instances on Saturday, Wright said the Aggies were out hustled and probably could have lost the doubles point if they hadn’t done better as the match went on.
-krn@cc.usu.edu