Netters look to rebound from loss
Breaking the University of Utah’s stranglehold on the series was not to be for the Utah State men’s tennis team as the Utes swept the Aggies 7-0 Friday in Salt Lake City.
With the victory, Utah (1-0 on the season) improved to 11-0 against the Aggies in the last 11 years.
“We knew it was going to be a good, tight match,” said USU Head Coach Chris Wright. “They just executed a little better than us.”
Although the Aggies (0-3) were unable to keep the matches as tight as they would have liked, they were able to stay within striking distance in the majority of the matches, Wright said.
However, USU found itself in an uphill battle before singles play even started as Utah swept all three doubles matches.
In doubles action, Utah’s No. 1 tandem of Roeland Brateanu and Nick Coutts beat Jonah Nelson and Jordan Butler, 8-5. Tyler Poulson and Tomasz Gryzyb surged past Brandon Butler and Jason Trask, 8-1 at No. 2, while Kaisorn Chaichana and Daniel Lohff completed the sweep with an 8-4 win over USU’s Ryan Bair and Jacob Jensen.
Utah maintained its momentum into singles play, staying a break of serve or two ahead in each of its matches. Better shot selection, especially at critical junctures of the match, proved to be the difference-maker, Wright said.
“We need to mix it up better,” he said. “We’re going for way more than we should go for. It’s just like if there’s a layup in basketball, you don’t pull up and shoot a three, and that’s our shot selection some of the time.”
In singles action, Lohff beat Nelson, 6-2, 6-3, Brateanu defeated Trask, 6-4, 6-2, and Poulson beat Jordan, 6-4, 6-4 in the top three singles spots.
The Utes completed the sweep with Coutts outpointing Brandon, 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot, and Chaichana beating Andrew Marsh, 6-3, 6-4 in No. 5, and Gryzyb defeating Bair, 6-2, 6-4 in No. 6.
In addition to giving Utah State valuable match experience, Friday’s match also introduced the team to the demands of playing matches on back-to-back days. The Aggies fell to Montana State 5-2 Thursday night in North Logan.
While he was quick not to use fatigue as a factor in Friday’s loss, Wright said he felt the team looked tired against the Utes.
“I think we were a little tired,” he said. “We’ve been doing a lot of conditioning, but it’s hard to play back-to-back [matches], especially when we played late on Thursday.”
The Aggies will look to get back on track Thursday when they host Gonzaga University at 1 p.m. at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
When asked about the Gonzaga, Wright said he doesn’t know much about this year’s team, but the Aggies and ‘Zags used to play each other on a regular basis — with USU winning three of the last four in the series.
Gonzaga has yet to play a match in the spring, but will have a match under its belt before playing the Aggies. The Bulldogs will travel to Pocatello, Idaho on Wednesday to take the court against Idaho State University.
Wright said he hopes USU’s early-season advantage in match experience will pay dividends come Thursday.
“We were a little bit tight, a little nervous in our first match,” he said. “With them, there’s still probably going to be some nerves, so hopefully it’s a big advantage for us.”
–jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu