USU avenges Feb. 16 loss to Weber State, rolls to victory
When the Utah State and Weber State men’s tennis teams decided to re-schedule their Feb. 19 match to Wednesday, the Aggies thought it would be to their advantage.
Aggie Jason Trask had still not recovered from a stomach flu he came down with at the UNLV Invitational, and he said he “wouldn’t have been able to play,” had the match gone through.
It turns out the advantage of having Trask for Wednesday’s match was negated as No. 1 singles player Jonah Nelson was unable to play, due to a sprained ankle he suffered last Friday against BYU.
However, it didn’t matter this time around, as USU avenged its 4-3 loss to Weber State on Feb. 16 in Las Vegas — a match Trask missed — with a 5-2 victory over the Wildcat’s at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
“Everybody fought hard, and the ones that we did lose, we [were right there],” said USU Head Coach Chris Wright. “It was a good match all the way through.”
Fortunately for the Aggies (3-7), it turned out to be a better match for them as they were able to emerge victorious in most of the close matches — and it started with the doubles point.
All three matches were decided by an 8-6 margin, with Utah State winning two of them. USU’s Jason Trask and Brandon Butler beat WSU’s Andrew Corlett and John Engelbrecht in No. 2 doubles, and Ryan Bair and Jacob Jensen defeated Zach Rideout and Martin Sitek in No. 3.
WSU’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Don Williams and Kenny Lindley picked up the other doubles match, beating Jordan Butler and Andrew Marsh.
When asked what was the difference-maker in doubles for Utah State, which has won the doubles point in its last four matches, Trask said good quickness and lateral movement on the court.
“Everyone seems to be moving a lot better in doubles,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, because in the past we haven’t been that great in doubles. But the last four weeks, we’ve been playing really good doubles.”
The Aggies didn’t fare badly in singles either, with everyone moving up a spot due to Nelson’s injury.
Wednesday’s victory was especially sweet for Trask, who improved to 1-1 at the No. 1 singles spot with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Williams.
When asked how sweet the win was, Trask said, “More than you know. It was so frustrating watching everyone go out there [the first time we played Weber] and play and do their best, and come really close.”
Other Aggies who were victorious in both singles and doubles were Brandon, Marsh and Bair.
After having a difficult time holding his serve in his No. 3 singles match against Lindley, Brandon held his serve the rest of the match, prevailing, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
“[My serve] was a big difference because you know when you’re returning that you can swing away a little bit more, because you know that you’re going to hold serve,” he said.
In No. 4 singles, Marsh defeated Corlett 6-3, 6-3 for the second time this season, and Bair overcame a slow start to beat Sitek, 4-6, 6-1, (10-4). It was decided that Bair and Sitek would play a super tie-breaker for the third set, because USU had already secured the team victory.
Weber State avoided the singles sweep when Engelbrecht edged past Jordan, 6-4, 7-5 in the No. 2 spot, while USU’s Jensen dropped a 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 heartbreaker to Rideout in No. 5.
Jensen had a match point against Rideout, up 6-5, 40-30 in the third set, only to see it erased on a service winner by Rideout. Rideout’s heavy first set throughout the course of the match may have been the difference-maker, Wright said.
“The kid does have a big first serve, and I kept thinking that he was going to drop off, but he did a good job,” Wright said.
The Aggies will return to action Saturday at 4 p.m. against St. Mary’s, and Monday at noon at Creighton. Both matches will be played in Stockton, Calif.
Utah State will play two more matches during Spring Break, playing a March 11 road match against Cal Poly, and a March 15 home match against Nevada.
–jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu