Tennis splits matches with Weber and Idaho
The men’s and women’s tennis teams had a tough fight this week as they both faced Idaho State at home and Weber State in Ogden.
The Aggie women got their first home win of the season as they defeated Idaho 6-1 on Monday. The win ended their seven-game losing streak.
The team was unable to keep its momentum, as it lost to Weber State 4-3 on Wednesday.
The Aggie men weren’t as successful against Idaho as they fell 4-3 in a difficult match. Nearing the end of the season, the loss brings their record to 8-11.
The Aggie women started their match against Idaho strong, winning the doubles point. The nearly unstoppable duo of Richelle Moon and Courtney Anderson, playing at No. 2 doubles, won their match 8-2. They have won four out of their last five doubles matches.
The Ags also won at the No. 3 doubles position for the point.
In singles play USU was able to keep up its momentum.
“I thought we played very controlled and focused,” said Utah State Head Coach Christian Wright. “We got ahead and didn’t let them get back into it. We have had trouble doing that and it was nice to see the girls stay out of any lulls.”
Anderson, Jill Smith, Lindsey Bennion and Carolyn Stephens all had straight-set victories against their Idaho opponents. Richelle Moon was able to pick up another win as well at the No. 3 singles spot.
Andrea Hansen fought hard, but was unable to continue her winning streak from last week, as she fell to ISU’s Katherine Zigars 6-3, 6-2.
On Wednesday, against WSU, the Aggies had the opposite match. Although they picked up the doubles point, winning at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles positions, they were unable to carry their momentum into singles play.
Bennion and Smith were the only Aggies to pick up victories in singles play as they won at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
Hansen fought hard at the No. 6 position as she pushed her second set to a tie-breaker, but she was unable to pick up the victory for the second straight match.
The men had a little more difficulty on Tuesday against Idaho. For the second time this season the Aggies played hard against Idaho but were unable to pull out a win.
The only win in doubles play came from the number one doubles position as Jason Trask and Hungsoon Park had an 8-4 victory over their Idaho opponents.
Trask and Park kept up their momentum going into singles play as they quickly defeated Hestian Stoica and Ivan Moferdin at the number one and three singles spots.
Unfortunately, except for Ryan Bair, who defeated his Idaho opponent at the number six singles position, the rest of the Aggies had a hard time picking up their momentum.
“It was tough losing the doubles point because we had a hard time gaining the momentum after that,” Wright said. “There were a few matches that could have gone either way.”
This proved true as Hannes Schenk, Roshan Rasekhi, and Tyler Bastian fought hard but were unable to get a win after all was said and done.
The Aggies will next head to the Big West Conference in California to finish their season.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Hungsoon Park returns a ball to an Idaho State opponent during his singles match Tuesday afternoon. The Ags fell to ISU 4-3. (Photo by John Zsiray)