Tennis teams struggle on road
The Utah State women’s tennis team defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs 7-0 Friday to capture their first win of the season, beginning a three-match stint this past weekend at Montana State University.
The Aggie women only lost one set in all six singles victories while going undefeated in doubles as well.
Winning in quick fashion was USU’s No. 3 singles, sophomore Courtney Anderson, 6-1, 6-0, over Gonzaga’s Carrie Schofield. At the No. 2 spot, senior Jill Smith dismissed Gonzaga’s Erin Humphrey, 6-1, 6-1.
Also posting wins were seniors Andrea Baker and Lindsay Bennion at the No. 5 and No. 1 spots, respectively, as well as junior Lauren Monson at the No. 6 spot.
The only match that came down to the wire against the Bulldogs was at the No. 4 spot where freshman Dee Dee Nelson went three sets to beat Gonzaga’s Courtney Lau, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
The rest of the weekend did not go so smoothly, however.
The Aggie women then played host team Montana State, losing 5-2. They followed that loss with another 5-2 setback the next day at the hands of the Wyoming Cowgirls.
One bright spot in the two losses was the continued winning ways of USU’s Courtney Anderson. Anderson was the only Aggie to go undefeated in singles for the weekend.
After success vs. Gonzaga, Anderson defeated Montana State’s Vera Vasileva, 7-5, 6-3, on Saturday, following it up with a win over Wyoming’s Jamie Nelson, 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday.
Also posting winning records for the Aggie women were Baker and Nelson, both going 2-1 in singles on the weekend.
The Aggie men were also in action this past weekend in Salt Lake. They faced a No. 72 ranked University of Utah team that was coming off a win over No. 28 ranked Boise State.
The Aggies match was the second half of the Utes Friday double-header, but fatigue never seemed to be a factor for the Utes as they shut out the Aggies, 7-0.
USU junior Dantley Young once again stepped up his game, being the only Aggie to take his opponent to three sets. However, it was in a losing effort, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, to Utah’s Ryan Scott.
The Aggie men will now travel to Las Cruces, N.M., this Friday for three straight matches. They will compete against Northern Colorado, New Mexico State and Idaho.
The women will also be on the road this weekend, traveling to El Paso, Texas, Friday to take on the UTEP Miners. After that, the women will join the men in Las Cruces for two matches, Saturday and Sunday, vs. North Texas and New Mexico State.
-jhislop@cc.usu.edu