Aggie tennis team drop two WAC matches
The USU women’s tennis team hit the road to play New Mexico State and No. 15 Fresno State over the weekend and lost both matches, 6-1, 7-0, respectively.
This was not the first time USU has played a top-50 team. Earlier this year, USU played against then No. 43 BYU and then No. 38 Boise State, losing in both matches as well.
Troubled times seem to be plaguing the Aggie women as of late. They are riding a losing streak of nine matches dating back to March 14 when they beat Seattle University. Since then the Aggies have come extremely close, but have been unable to get over the hump. USU was also unable to win any doubles set over the weekend, as both New Mexico State and Fresno State swept out the Aggies, amassing 42 games won to USU’s nine over the six sets.
The lone Aggie able to win her match this weekend, Monica Abella, won a grinder. She won the first set 6-3, surrendered the second, 4-6, and won the ensuing tie breaker, 10-5.
Hailey Swenson, the team’s leader and holder of the No. 1 spot on the roster, praised her teammates’ effort, recognizing Abella’s win.
“Monica had a really good match against New Mexico,” Swenson said. “She knew what she had to do to beat the girl and she just did it.”
Swenson is pitted against the best player from the opposing team on every single outing. She said she was pleased with how she played against Fresno State, but not against New Mexico State.
“I played the girl from New Mexico, and I didn’t really get into a good groove,” Swenson said. “She also played really well. The girl I played from Fresno well, she’s 14th in the nation, but I played better against her than I did in the New Mexico match.”
Swenson and USU’s Bridgette Strickland had the unenviable task of confronting the No. 1-ranked doubles pair in the country, Fresno State’s Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova. Fresno’s top three singles spots are ranked in the top 100 in the nation, and facing them over the weekend Swenson, Abella and Strickland. USU surrendered all three matches in straight sets.
“It was a little bit intimidating,” Swenson said, “but at the same time, you have nothing to lose. They just knew how to finish off the points. We didn’t have too many unforced errors.”
Also notable in the match against Fresno State was USU’s Taylor Perry. Although she was defeated by Fresno’s Tinesta Rowe, she managed to win more games against Rowe than any other Aggie in the match, amassing seven over two sets to Rowe’s 12. Next to Perry, USU’s most competitive performance came from Carla Limon, who managed to win three games against Fresno’s Laura Pola.
Overall, the attitude of the team is somewhat positive.
“I think it was OK,” Swenson said. “It’s not fun to lose, but I think we did OK.”
The Aggies will be hoping the home-court advantage can help them this week when they take on San Jose State and Louisiana Tech Friday, April 17 and Nevada Saturday, April 18 at the Logan Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
–la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu