Aggies demolished by No. 35 Boise State
The Utah State men’s tennis team could not pull off an upset against nationally ranked Boise State University. Hosting BSU for the first time, the Aggies fell on their home court 6-1 to the No. 35-ranked team.
The doubles point eluded USU players, as they lost all three matches.
“I felt we came out strong in the doubles,” head coach Chris Wright said. “It came down to a few points.”
Junior Sven Poslusny and freshman Marcus Fritz took the Broncos’ James Meredith and Nathan Sereke to a tie breaker in a pro set in the No. 1 doubles position. Poslusny and Fritz fought off BSU’s tough serves, but the Aggies lost the tie breaker 5-7 and the match 7-8.
Freshman Matt Sweet and senior Nate Ballam lost to BSU’s pairing of Andrew Bettles and Filipp Pogostkin in the No. 2 doubles position. After going down 1-4, the Aggies fought for every point but lost the match 3-8.
Brothers Andrew and Lenny Whiting teamed up against Damien Hume and Aiden Reid, losing 8-3 at the No. 3 doubles spot.
The Aggies fared no better in singles action. Boise State has competed against top nationally ranked teams in the past couple weeks and routinely dismissed USU.
Playing the battle hardened BSU, which has played top-10 and top-20 nationally ranked teams in the past weeks and tolled on USU, as it dropped five singles matches without winning a set.
Poslusny, of USU, battled against Meredith, of BSU, in a marathon match in the No. 1 singles spot. After more than an hour of play, Poslusny took the first set to a tie breaker but lost the set 6-7.
In the second set, Poslusny bounced back to take the lead 5-3, but eventually Meredith came back to take the No. 1 spot, 7-6, 7-5, after two and half hours of play.
Assistant coach Bryan Marchant was pleased with how the Aggie played.
“He played very confident, and he played exactly how we wanted him too,” Marchant said. “It just came down to pressure points, and Poslusny played steady but just missed a few shots on big points.”
Fritz traded blows at the baseline against nationally ranked Hume, but the Broncos’ speed left Fritz leaving skid marks on the court — the Aggie lost the match 4-6, 1-6.
“Fritz is good at mixing things up and he’s a fighter,” Marchant said. “He had (Hume) on the ropes, but Hume locked in on the second set.”
Sweet was swept by Bettles in straight sets in the No. 3 singles position. After dropping the first set, 2-6, the Aggie fell short of a comeback, losing the second set 4-6.
USU Swede Fredrick Peterson played fellow countryman Sereke in the No. 4 singles spot. Peterson barely fought off the 6-foot-7 Bronco’s heavy top-spin serves, but the sophomore lost the match 2-6, 2-6.
Utah State’s Whiting was dealt bagels in his match against Pogostkin — the Aggie fell 0-6, 0-6.
Ballam earned USU’s lone win in the No. 6 singles position against Reid.
After losing the first set 4-6, the Aggie came back to lead Reid 6-5 in the second. The Bronco committed three unforced errors to give the set to the senior.
The match went into a super tie breaker to determine the winner.
Wright said Ballam’s gamble in the tie breaker gave the player the edge. Ballam played serve-and-volley style, winning the tie breaker 10-7 and the match 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.
Ballam felt good about his win, even though his team had lost the match already.
“It was tough. He was a great player,” Ballam said. “It was good to get the personal win. I know there is going to be ups and downs. I go out to play a good match and have fun.”
Marchant said it was good for the team to play a tough team.
“It was a good match for our team,” Marchant said. “It will make us tougher and step up our level.”
Utah State will host Seattle University on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Sports Academy.
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu