Men’s tennis starts season 3-0

The Utah State men’s tennis team is off to a 3-0 start, which marks the first time the Aggies have started the season with multiple wins since 1988.

“Saturday is going to be a war with a big doubleheader for us,” said USU head coach Clancy Shields before the weekend matches. “It is very common after a big win to have a letdown, so I’m interested to see how the team responds. The main focus is always going to be on how we prepare, how we execute and the effort we bring. If we take care of these things, the winning will take care of itself.”

The team didn’t disappoint and followed up the season-opening win against BYU with two more wins. The first was a 7-0 win over Eastern Washington and the second a 4-3 battle over Gonzaga.

Utah State won every match except for one against Eastern Washington. The one match they lost was a doubles match, and USU still won two out of three to get the team point for doubles.

While playing against Gonzaga, the Aggies clinched the doubles point when Jack Swindells and Matt Sweet defeated Sergio Chip and Hayden Smith 6-3. Dennis Baumgartner and Marcus Fritz won 6-1 over Vladimir Mijatovic and Joey Brandt of Gonzaga. Alvaro Nazal and Nick Kamisar topped Utah State’s Jaime Barajas and Karan Salwan 6-4 to prevent the doubles sweep.

In singles play Salwan put the Aggies up 4-2 and clinched the match by defeating Mijatovic 7-5, 7-5. Gonzaga was victorious in the final match as Hayden Smith beat out Fritz 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a three-set battle.

I’m extremely proud of our guys,” said USU assistant coach Andy Magee, “not only because of the results, but because they continue to prove that they are true competitors and will fight for every single point. Hats off to both teams as they are extremely improved from last year and are definitely going to have successful seasons.”

Utah State plays next in Logan hosting Weber State and Colorado Mesa on Saturday.

— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com

Twitter: @kalen_taylor