Tennis downs Idaho State for first win
The stands were packed for the duration of the Utah State men’s tennis team’s match against Idaho State on Monday, and fans were not disappointed. The Aggies won 5-2 in their first home match of the season after narrowly losing in their season opener to BYU in Provo.
Tomas Cosmai, a freshman from Florida, came up with the clinching match for the Aggies nine days after he lost the clinching match to BYU.
“The cool thing about Tomas is that he had his head down last week and he came back and he won it for us this week,” said head coach Clancy Shields. “The kid he beat from Idaho State, he had lost to in the fall. His number was called today, and he stepped up.”
The day started with the Aggies sweeping all three doubles matches. Freshman Dennis Baumgartner overpowered his opponent in the No. 1 singles spot and Matt Sweet made quick work of his win in the No. 4 spot, giving the Aggies a quick 3-0 lead.
“It felt awesome. It was the first home match,” Sweet said. “That kid was playing well. He was a little awkward to play, but that’s how it gets.”
Frederick Peterson and Marcus Fritz lost their matches in the No. 2 and 3 spots, cutting the Aggie lead to 3-2.
“Being our first match, there was a lot of nerves from our guys, and that is understandable,” Shields said. “But that being said, we’ve got to get a lot better. There was some bright spots some guys getting stepping up, but overall we’ve got to get a lot better.”
That was when Cosmai dominated his opponent, taking the first set 6-0 and the second one 6-3 in front of an excited crowd and with a lot of excitement on his end. Shields liked the emotion Cosmai gave out in the match and said Sweet played with a lot of emotion as well.
“Every great team plays with a lot of passion, and we’re not there right now,” Shields said. “But we’ll get there. We’ll work on it every day, because once you let it go and you play with your whole heart on your sleeve, that’s when you play your best tennis.”
With the overall team victory already clinched, senior Andrew Whiting, playing in the No. 5 spot, won his match in two sets. This clinched the win for the Aggies.
“It’s my first home match, and the whole team thing is so big to me,” Baumgartner said. “I’m from Germany, I don’t know that team stuff and it’s so big, it feels so good. It’s like we’re a big family.”
The Aggies go to New Mexico next to take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday and New Mexico State Saturday.