Online exclusive: Aggie tennis splits road series
The Utah State men’s tennis team split its weekend road series, winning 4-3 over the nationally ranked Marquette Golden Eagles but falling to Montana 7-0.
“I think we were better prepared on Sunday,” said freshman captain Dennis Baumgartner. “We went into the match with a different mentality. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, and I think we kind of looked over them.”
USU struggled to get any kind of rhythm going against Montana, who it beat 5-2 earlier this year in Logan. Montana came out dominant and played a great match to sweep the Aggies.
The Aggies came out ready to do whatever it took to get the win Sunday against the Golden Eagles.
“It was a 360 degree change from yesterday,” said USU head coach Clancy Shields. “We lost to Montana 7-0, and then we ended up beating Marquette 4-3 today. Overall it was an unbelievable turnaround and just a great win for us.”
USU started off by clinching the doubles point for the match. The senior duo of Andrew Whiting and Fredrik Peterson defeated Gleb Sklyr and Logon Collins 8-7, followed by freshman Sebastian Scheider and junior Matt Sweet defeating Nick Dykema and Cameron Tehrani 8-5.
After dropping the doubles point, Marquette looked to come back. They quickly evened the match at 1-1 when Vukasin Teofanovic defeated Fredrik Petersen then took the lead behind the play of NIck Dykema, who defeated Matt Sweet in straight sets.
Sebastian Schneider equalized for the Aggies, tying the match at 2-2 by defeating Cameron Tehrani 7-6, 6-4. Both teams got one more victory, Dennis Baumgartner for USU and Kristiyan Trukov for the Golden Eagles, leaving the match tied up once again.
With the match on the line, Marcus Fritz rallied for USU. The freshman came back to win the match 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 in three sets after dropping the first.
“It was a great feeling. This is the first time I have had an opportunity to clinch the match,” Fritz said. “I was really nervous, but I just tried to just enjoy the moment and play loose.”
Sitting at 8-8 overall, USU can climb above .500 in its next match against in-state rival Weber State. USU will face the Wildcats for the second and final time this season at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Ogden.
– kalen.s.taylor@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @Kalen_Taylor