Men’s tennis falls to Idaho State, 5-2 in Pocatello
Home court advantage against the Utah State men’s tennis team had been a big plus for Idaho State University — that is until last season.
ISU wasn’t about to let it happen two years in a row as the Bengals avenged last season’s home loss, defeating the Aggies 5-2 Thursday in Pocatello, Idaho.
“They play solid on their home court,” said USU Head Coach Chris Wright. “They’ve always played well [at home]. It’s a huge advantage for them.”
That advantage was made even bigger when the Aggies dropped all three doubles matches, forcing them to win four of the six singles matches.
USU was unable to do so, although it did rebound well in singles, after what Wright said was a poor performance in doubles.
“We did a really good job bouncing back, especially after a really poor showing in doubles,” he said.
He said the Aggies dug themselves early holes in all three doubles matches, with ISU’s Malcolm Swan and Adam Krupp beating Jonah Nelson and Jordan Butler, 8-4 in No. 1 doubles.
The Bengal tandem of Hestian Stoica and Butch Stavridis defeated Jason Trask and Brandon Butler, 8-4, and Jemre Okah and Chris Sadek were victorious over Ryan Bair and Jacob Jensen, 8-3.
Fortunately for the Aggies (1-4), they were able to recover from their poor showing in doubles — something Wright said they have struggled with when losing the doubles point in USU’s first three loses this season.
Leading the charge was Brandon and Bair.
Brandon walked over Pablo Garces 6-0 in the first set of their No. 4 singles match. After falling behind 5-2 in the second set, Brandon battled back to win the next six games, and the match, 6-0, 7-5. Brandon improved to 3-2 on the season.
Bair, put in the singles lineup when Andrew Marsh was unable to play (bad knees), squeezed by Sadek in the first set, before rolling to a 7-5, 6-1
victory.
In other singles play, Stoica surged past Nelson, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 spot, Stavridis defeated Jordan, 6-4, 6-4, in No. 3, and Okah outlasted Jensen, 7-5, 6-4 in No. 5.
At the No. 1 spot, Trask, playing at No. 1 the first time, came close to giving USU its third singles victory, dropping a 7-6, 6-4 nailbiter to Swan.
Playing against what Wright said was one of the best players in the Western Region, Trask was unable to pick up a crucial break of serve against the big server from Australia.
“[Swan] was able to rely on his serve in big points,” Wright said. “Jason returned pretty well, it’s just hard to get a break against Swan.”
With the victory, the Bengals (2-1) have taken four of the last seven meetings from the Aggies.
–jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu