Aggies split Vegas road trip, top Highlanders fall to Rebels
The Utah State women’s tennis team traveled to Las Vegas this weekend to take on No. 37 University of Northern Las Vegas on Friday and University of California, Riverside on Saturday. The Aggies split the dual meet and sit at 4-4 in the season.
USU 1, UNLV 6
Utah State went into the weekend on a win streak of two matches but couldn’t continue the momentum, struggling against No. 37 UNLV 6-1.
In doubles, the Rebels captured the doubles point, quickly taking down No. 1 doubles pairing of junior Jaci West and freshman McKenzie Davis as they lost to Nives Pavlovic and Aleksandra Josifoska 8-1. The No. 2 doubles team of Romina Nedakovic and Kristina Voytsekhovich also fell 8-1, sealing the Aggies’ fate to UNLV.
Kimberly Watts and Brianna Rowland were the only Aggies to win in doubles against UNLV, but it was after the double’s point had already been captured by the Rebels. Watts and Rowland defeated Anett Ferenczi-Bako and Ella Bourchier 8-5 in the No. 3 doubles position.
After small success against UNLV in doubles, the Aggies looked to turn things around for singles.
No. 1 singles player West headed into arguably one of the toughest matches she will play all season, taking on No. 50-ranked Lucia Batta in the top position. West fought each point but ended up losing the match 6-0, 6-2.
In the No. 2 singles position Davis, a freshman, came into the match undefeated in singles action. Davis fought three sets to maintain her record but ultimately fell to UNLV’s Josifoska 1-6, 6-3, 2-6.
“First set got away from (Davis), she turned around and played a great second set, but (Josifoska) stepped it up in the third,” said USU head coach Chris Wright. “In the end, (Josifoska) came up with a few key points to win.”
As one Aggie ended her winning record, another started one.
Julie Tukuafu won her first match of the season in singles action. Tukuafu won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 against UNLV’s Bourchier.
The rest of the team did not fare as well, losing in straight sets the rest of the way to UNLV.
USU’s Voytsekhovich lost to Pavlovic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 3 singles position. Nedakovic followed suit, losing to the Rebel’s Manon de Lanlay, 4-6, 1-6, in the No. 4 singles position. Harris was defeated by Ferenczi-Bako in the No. 5 singles position, losing 3-6, 3-6.
This was the first time the Aggies had played outside all season, but Wright felt like that was not an excuse.
“I thought it was a great effort from our team, it was a little different being outside for the first time,” he said. “It affected us against UNLV, but it wasn’t an excuse.”
Wright was not disappointed in his team’s efforts but felt like the match could have been won.
“I felt good going into UNLV, but we had the chances and felt like we could have pulled the upset,”
Wright said. “We weren’t out-matched, we just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.”
USU 6, UCR 1
After losing a tough match to UNLV, the Aggies looked to rebound for a win against UC, Riverside
USU took the first point against the Highlanders by sweeping the doubles matches and carried that momentum into singles.
No. 1 singles player West was handed a free pass when her opponent retired after dropping the first set 0-6 and trailing 0-1 in the second.
Davis returned to winning form, taking her match in straight sets to defeat Kat Saltarelli, 6-4, 7-5, in the No. 2 singles position.
In the No. 3 singles spot, Voytsekhovic battled three sets to win her match against UCR’s Taylor Raney. The Aggie junior finished her opponent off by narrowly taking the super tie breaker, 10-8, and winning the match 7-6, 1-6, 1-0 (10-8).
Nedakovic dismissed her opponent, Natalie McKay, 6-3, 6-3, in the No. 4 singles position, though, Tukuafu earned a perfect mark in singles action over the weekend, defeating Kate Bergeson, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 6 singles position.
The only loss came in a three-set heartbreaker, as Harris fell in the No. 5 singles position to UCR’s Courtney Pattugalan. After losing the first set, 5-7, the senior stormed back to take the second, 6-2, but lost in the super tie breaker 3-10.
“It was a lot of hard-fought matches, but we were pretty much in control,” Wright said.
The Aggies return to Logan for a five-game stretch at home. USU will play Seattle University on Feb. 23 at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu