Men’s tennis beat Utes 4-3 in Salt Lake
Behind the clutch play down the stretch of senior Jakob Asplund, the Aggie men’s tennis team continued their winning streak in defeating rival Utah, 4-3, Friday in Salt Lake City.
In a performance that USU head coach Christian Wright described as “phenomenal,” Asplund defeated Utah’s Dmytro Mamedov in two straight sets after falling 6-7 in the match opener. The win broke a 3-3 overall tie with the Utes and sent the Aggies (3-2, 1-0 WAC) back to Logan with a three-game winning streak.
Wright felt that the victory was in-waiting for his team, who lost by one point to Utah last season.
“We felt like we should have won,” he said. “I felt like we were due. The guys were very focused.”
That goal, however, proved to be something much more difficult to obtain. After taking a 2-0 overall lead on the Utes (1-1 overall) following a pair of doubles victories – an 8-3 win by sophomore Sven Poslusny and senior Bryan Marchant and an 8-4 victory in the No. 3 spot from Asplund and senior Nikitia Ryashchenko. Marchant followed up with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Utah’s Matt Cowley to give USU a 3-1 advantage.
“He kept his focus and energy up, and made the necessary adjustments,” Wright said of Marchant. “The other kid was coming up to the net a lot, but Bryan made some passing shots that deterred the kid from coming up more.”
The Aggies never led by more than one game the rest of the way.
All the more need for Asplund’s heroics down the stretch.
“Jacob stayed focused and hung in their against a guy whose style is to just try to wear you down with consistent shots down the middle,” Wright said. “It took a lot of mental and physical focus to pull through.”
Utah State almost had the meet wrapped up when sophomore Sven Poslusny faced Utah junior Benito Suriano just moments earlier, before Poslusny fell in a nail-biter, 7-6, 7-6.
Wright felt that Poslusny was slighted by judgment calls several times during his singles match.
“It was a shame he fell short, to have had many close shots go against him,” he said. “We (USU) had the vantage point on several of the calls.”
USU senior Alex Thatcher also defeated Ute freshman Gino Octa 6-4, 7-6 to precede the showdown.
“Alex really had to stay cool and composed in order to win playing from behind,” Wright said of one of his leaders.
All attributes that allowed for the Aggies to look toward an upcoming two-game homestand with the satisfaction of having defeated an in-state rival, especially after losing to another rival in BYU in this semester’s season opener.
“I want to give credit to the team,” Wright said. “We talked the last couple of matches about staying positive, and on each court we have the depth to get the four points we need. We just didn’t know where the points were going to come from.”
An effort that encourages Wright as he reflected over the season thus far.
“We just need to stay tough mentally, and fight through. That has been the key so far,” he said. “I anticipate several tight matches throughout this season.”
The Aggies will open a two-match homestand against Mesa State (4-3) and Montana State (1-2), Friday Feb. 4 and Saturday Feb. 5. The match against Mesa State will be Aggies’ the first home match of the season.
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu