Aggies tennis teams have rough weekend
The Utah State women’s tennis team traveled to Boise for its season opener against former Western Athletic Conference rival Boise State on Friday and future WAC foes the Denver University Pioneers on Saturday.
USU’s men’s tennis team fared no better, losing its season opener to WAC rival New Mexico State and then to Texas A&M, Corpus Christi in Las Cruces, N.M.
USU 2, Boise 5
USU junior Jaci West and freshman McKenzie Davis struck first for the Aggies, battling against Boise’s Marlena and Manuela Pietzuch at the No. 1 doubles position — taking the match to a tiebreaker. Shutting out the Broncos, West and Davis held onto the Aggies’ only doubles win 8-7 (8-6).
Continuing momentum, Davis took on Manuela Pietzuch at the No. 3 singles spot, winning the contest in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Senior Monica Abella bounced back from her doubles loss, to overwhelm Kaitlyn Brown at the No. 6 singles position 6-0, 6-2 to add to Davis’ point and end up 2-2 with the Broncos.
From there on, the Broncos shut out Aggie efforts by winning eight of the 12 sets in dominant fashion.
USU 1, DU 6
Seeking their first win of the season, the Aggies looked to rebound on Saturday against Denver University.
The Aggies struggled to close out matches and lost all three doubles matches.
At the No. 1 doubles position West and Davis took the Pioneers to the brink, pushing the match to a tiebreaker, but they ended up losing the breaker 5-7 and the match 7-8. The rest of the USU doubles teams followed suit — all losing.
The lone Aggie point came from freshman Davis at the No. 3 singles position. Losing the first set 0-6, Davis stormed back in the second to split sets with Pioneer Caroline Schnell after a 7-5 second-set win.
With the Aggies’ fate sealed, a super tiebreaker replaced the third set, which Davis took 10-6.
The Aggies, now 0-2 for the season, return to Logan for their first home game Jan. 31.
USU 0, NMSU 7
In doubles, senior Nate Ballam and freshman Curran Wearmouth almost made an improbable comeback after falling behind 1-6. Ballam and Wearmouth stormed back to push the pro set to 6-7, before eventually falling 6-8.
The Aggie freshmen continued to shine in singles action.
Freshman Matt Sweet was the only Aggie to take an NMSU player to three sets. Playing in the No. 2 singles position; Sweet lost the first set 4-6. New Mexico State’s Marc Westgate could not hold off Sweet in the second set, losing 7-5. In the decisive third set, Sweet fell to Westgate 3-6 to end USU’s best effort.
USU men’s tennis fell in its season opener 0-7 and in WAC action 0-1.
USU 0, Corpus Christi 7
The men’s team lost again to the Texas A&M, Corpus Christi Islanders on Saturday.
Missing a top player, freshman Marcus Fritz, due to a shoulder injury agitated in Friday’s match, the Aggies dropped all three doubles matches giving the Islanders the first point and momentum heading into singles action.
The Islanders continued their dominance, taking all six singles positions without dropping a set.
In the No. 6 singles position, Ballam pushed the first set against Islander Nathan Robinson to a tiebreaker — the closest an Aggie would get to taking a set off an Islander. After pushing the first set, Ballam failed to maintain play, falling in the second set 3-6.
The Aggies return to Logan Feb. 2 to continue spring action against Montana State.
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu