Men’s tennis team gets first win on road at NMSU
After opening the season with a loss to in-state rival BYU, the USU men’s tennis team hit the road this past weekend, playing a double-header in Las Cruces, N.M. against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and conference opponent New Mexico State University. On Friday, they lost 7-0 to the Islanders of Texas A&M Corpus Christi followed by a 4-3 triumph over New Mexico State on Saturday.
Friday morning, three of the seven matches went into the third set, with Texas A&M coming out on top in all of them. Senior Alex Thatcher was defeated in three sets by Texas A&M CC’s Gergo Weidinger. Thatcher won the first set, 7-5, but dropped the next two, 4-6 and 8-10. Thatcher’s fellow Aggies, Nikita Ryashchenko and Jakob Asplund, also sent their respective matches into a third set but were unable to lock up victories for USU.
Asplund and Ryashchenko followed their singles play with a win in third doubles over the Islander’s Alex Povlov and Gergo Weidinger, defeating them 8-6. Texas A&M CC won the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to earn the doubles point for the match.
On Saturday, the Aggies claimed their first Western Athletic Conference victory since 2007 over the Aggies of New Mexico State University winning 4-3.
They claimed the opening doubles point with a win from Sven Poslusny and Bryan Marchant, 9-8. Followed by Asplund’s and Ryashchenko’s 8-6 win, their second in two days, giving the men their first doubles point on the year.
In singles play, Asplund got the Aggies started by winning his No. 2 singles match in two sets, 6-4, 6-4 over Arthur Surreaux. The Aggies clinched the match with wins in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots from Thatcher and Ryaschenko. Thatcher battled NMSU’s Luis Ramirez, eventually coming out the victor 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Thatcher’s momentum helped Ryaschenko claim a match deciding three set victory over Armando Morales 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
Utah State will stay on the road next week hoping to improve on their success this past weekend with a stop in Pocatello, Idaho on Wednesday to take on the Idaho State University Bengals.
– bret.clapier@aggiemail.usu.edu