Aggies serve up win: Both men’s and women’s teams win 7-0 over Mesa State
It was an easy weekend for USU tennis as both the men’s and women’s teams cruised through their competition Friday and Saturday at the Sports Academy.
In Friday’s action, the men and women played host to Division-II Mesa State College. Both matches resulted in 7-0 blowouts in which neither the men nor the women dropped a set.
“We played well,” said Coach Christian Wright. “There were good games and rallies, but we were closing out game points and set points with more consistency.
With Friday’s win, the Aggie men improve to 6-4 on the season while increasing their spring winning streak to four matches. They also increase their home unbeaten streak to 10 matches, including their 4-0 home record so far this year.
With Friday’s matches being as lopsided as they were, the only thing that seemed noteworthy for the Aggies was the absence of men’s team No. 2, senior Joao Pinho. Pinho’s absence came as a result of the match being rescheduled.
Friday’s match was originally scheduled for the previous Wednesday, but had to be rescheduled about a week in advance. Pinho had already made plans to be out of town on Friday, so Wright replaced him in the lineup with junior Dantley Young who usually plays at the No. 4 spot.
“If it was a conference match, I probably wouldn’t have allowed [Joao] to do that,” Wright said, “We would’ve had to have him here.”
On Saturday, the women took on the University of Northern Colorado in a match that proved to be slightly tougher. Though the Aggie women still won in dominating fashion, 6-1, the Bears of Northern Colorado made the match closer than the score indicates.
In doubles competition, the Aggie’s No. 1 team of Lindsay Bennion and Andrea Barker as well as the No. 2 team of senior Jill Smith and junior Lauren Monson were both able to pull out 9-7 victories.
However, at the No. 3 spot for doubles, the tandem of junior Courtney Anderson and freshman Dee Dee Nelson won convincingly, 8-1.
In Saturday’s singles action, the Aggies won at every spot except No. 2 where USU’s Smith lost a tough one, 6-4, 6-4, to UNC’s Meredith Krystofik.
Aggies Barker and Monson both won somewhat easily at the No’s 5 and 6 spots, respectively. Barker defeated UNC’s Carmen Vasos, 6-3, 6-2, while Monson won her match against UNC’s Kellie Crail, 6-3, 6-2.
At the No. 1 spot for the Aggies, Bennion had a good first set before pulling out a close second set in a 6-2, 7-5 victory over UNC’s Karen Groll.
USU’s Anderson won again at the No. 3 spot, 6-1, 6-1, improving her singles record to 9-2 on the season.
At the No. 4 spot, Nelson needed three sets to beat UNC’s Christina Shelly, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4.
“It was a good match, they were pretty tough,” Wright said. “We won six out of the seven matches, but we had to work for it in a few of them.
-jhislop@cc.usu.edu