Men’s and women’s tennis weekend recap

Both the Utah State men’s and women’s tennis teams played over the weekend, with the women losing to Idaho State University 5-2 and the men beating Weber State University 6-1. The match against WSU resulted in the men’s first win of the season, giving them a record of 1-0.  

The women’s team fell short of victory against ISU. The match-ending play came down to a game between Aggie Niyati Kukreti and Sydney Morris, with Morris winning the final game. The Bengals beat the Aggies in all three doubles matches. In the first match, the Bengals’ Lola O’Lideadha and Sol O’Lideadha beat Aggies Lisa Küng and Laura De Hilario, 6-4. The second match had Bengals Asem Shoybek and Stefanya Shalakhova beating Aggies Zeynep Ozturk and Ana Sanchez, 6-4. The final match consisted of Bengals Hana Cho and Morris sweeping Maile Brilhante and Kukreti, 6-2. 

Zeynep Naz Ozturk playing aggressive and close to the net on January 20th in the Sports Academy and Racquet Club. // Photo Zachary Guercio

For singles matches, Cho beat Küng in the final two matches, 4-6, 7-6 and 6-1. Ozturk beat Shoybek 6-2 and 6-4. From the Bengals side, Lola O’Lideadha swept Sanchez 6-3 and 6-3. Her sibling, Sol O’Lideadha, also swept Kukreti 7-6 and 6-3. Aggie Indya Nespor swept Morris 6-2 and 6-4. Finally, Shalakova beat Magdalena Pureco out of three matches 4-6, 7-5 and 1-0. 

This brought the overall score to 5-2 in favor of ISU.  

“It was a really tough opening match for us,” coach Veronika Golanova wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman after the match. “We competed hard but didn’t make some necessary adjustments along the way. We definitely have a young team and a lack of experience got to us in tight moments. We have things to work on this week, but we will come better and stronger next Saturday.” 

The men’s team had a better weekend against the Wildcats with a score of 6-1. 

 In a post-game interview, coach Aaron Paajanen said the team was “happy to come away with a win.”  

 “I think for those that were here watching the match, some of the points were pretty amazing,” Paajanen said.  

For doubles, in the first match Aggies Stijn Paardekooper and Nuno Pinheiro beat Wildcats Elyes Marouani and Tristen Sarap, 7-6. In the second match, Aggies Stefan Vedouelli and Bodin Zarkovic beat Connor Kruger and Jordan Coutinho, 6-3. In the final doubles match, the Wildcats Matteo Savio and Tuan Minh outlasted Mohammad Alkotop and Sergi Fenollar, 6-3.  

For singles matches, Sarap lost the final two matches to Zarkovic with scores of 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2. Paardekooper and Marouani battled to the end in both their matches with the Aggies winning 7-6 and 7-5. In the third singles match, Aggie Fenollar stomped Kruger in both matches, 6-1 and 6-2. For the fourth match, Weber pulled one away with Coutinho beating Pinheiro in the final two matches, 2-6, 6-3 and 6-3. Wildcat William Zulch fell to Alkotop in the fifth match, 6-3 and 6-3. In the final singles match, Philipp Rein beat Minh in his final two matches with scores of 5-7, 7-6 and 10-3.

JACK LEWIS BURTON

Stijn Paardekooper lands on one foot after his serve at the Sports Academy & Racquet Club on Jan. 21.

The overall score after this meet was 6-1 in favor of the Aggies.  

The women’s team takes on Utah Tech next week, along with the men’s team against UC San Diego.