Closely contested match finally goes to Cowgirls, not Aggies
The USU women’s tennis team fell 4-3 in a closely contested match to Wyoming Thursday at the Logan Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
The Aggies fall to 3-13 after the loss, but coach Christian Wright was very optimistic and pleased with his team’s effort and determination.
“That’s the most consistent I think I’ve seen one through six and playing each point,” Wright said. “Today the focus was there, the belief was there and execution would be the next thing.”
Wright also praised some individual players for the progress that they’ve made up to this point in the season. Britney Watts completely shut out her opponent in her match. In fact, the Cowgirl didn’t manage to win a single game over the course of the match. Also, Bridget Strickland won her match in two sets, the first of which was extended to a long 12 games.
On the other hand, USU’s Taylor Perry lost a close match in three sets. She won the first set 6-2, then lost the second by the same score. Despite a great effort, Perry came up just short. Wright praised Perry’s effort in the match.
“Taylor played well in the first set and won that,” he said. “It was good to see her play better because she’s had some rough matches in the last couple. So, it’s good to see her improve.”
Strickland’s match was very close in the first set. Through six sets, both Strickland and her opponent were tied at three sets apiece. The two stayed tied up until 5-5, and then Strickland was able to break open the set and win the next two games to take it. Strickland carried her momentum into the second set, and was quickly up 4-1. When Strickland’s opponent rallied and tried to come back, Strickland was able to remain focused and win the remaining two games to get her the set.
“It feels really good,” Strickland said of her win. “It was a really close first set. I tried to stay real consistent and aggressive at the same time through all the points. What made the difference for me today was I took the short balls and kept them deep, but basically being aggressive.”
Hailey Swenson was also able to win her match in two sets even though she found herself trailing her opponent 3-2 after the first five games of the set.
“I wrote some goals for myself today,” Swenson said, “and a lot of them had to do with being positive and trusting myself. Have fun, trust your stuff, plant both feet and play the ball and not the opponent. That helped. Then I just tried to mentally prepare myself.”
Apparently Swenson’s goals worked well for her, because she won the next four games straight. Swenson said the last game of the match went into a deuce situation a couple times, which was very nerve racking being so close to winning and satisfying to close the deal. She displayed a lot of character in her match.
“Hailey’s been doing a lot of winning,” Wright said. “I felt like we took a positive step today. I’m proud of the team as a whole.”
Despite the positives, USU was unable to convert at critical moments in the match.
“We talked to the team about it,” Wright said. “Everybody, when they go out there, they have to have that mentality that it’s going to come down to my match. You know, don’t think that your teammates are going to get it done for you, because if everybody thinks that someone else is going to come through, it’s not going to happen. It was better, and we just needed one more match. I feel like if everybody keeps coming out with that focus, then we’ll be OK.”
One point of the match that was weaker against Wyoming than in other matches was USU’s doubles play. USU was unable to win a single doubles set, as Wyoming took them all and cruised to the doubles point. It proved to be the deciding factor in the match against Wyoming. USU and Wyoming split the singles points 3-3.
“We’ve been playing pretty good doubles,” Wright said. “It’s kind of gone up and down who plays the best, but today they just moved better than us.”
The tennis team will hit the road April 4 when they take on Hawaii and Idaho in Boise.
–la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu