USU men’s tennis remains undefeated in conference play with 4-3 home win
Facing an early deficit at home against Nevada on Friday, the Utah State men’s tennis team swept the final four singles matches to pull out a 4-3 victory and remain undefeated in Mountain West play.
In the doubles portion of the match, senior Jaime Barajas and freshman Jose Carvajal lost, 3-6, at the No. 1 spot to sophomores Julien Evrard and Kostya Nesterenko. The two additional courts in play both had their matches end by a tiebreaker. Senior Andrew Nakajima and freshman Valdemar Holm won their match 7-6, at the No. 2 spot against freshman Jeremy Merville and senior Robert Margitfalv. Nevada was able to take the doubles point following senior Peter O’Donovan and junior Augustin Delahodde won, 7-6 at the No. 3 position over Aggie freshman Felipe Acosta and Addy Vashistha.
During the singles portion, Acosta lost, 6-7, at the No. 4 spot to Merville. Holm dropped only two games in his first set at No. 3 singles, 6-2, but his competitor, Margitfalvi, retaliated and won the next two sets, 7-6 and 6-3. Barajas was down 0-2 early on in the first set to Evrard at No. 1 singles, but bounced back to the lead, 4-2, and went on to win 7-5. Evrard then shot back and took the second set, 6-3. From being down 3-5 in the final set, Barajas took the next four games to win his match, 7-5. Sophomore Sergiu Bucur recorded a 7-5 victory in the first set prior to losing in the second, 4-6, at the No. 2 spot to Nesterenko. Bucur was able to win the match after a 6-2 victory during the third set.
All eyes were on the final two courts, when Vashistha posted a straight set victory, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 6 spot against O’Donovan. After that, the focus was all on Carvajal and Delahodde who were in the midst of their third set at the No. 5 spot. Carvajal lost the first set, 3-6, but fired back and won the second set, 6-1. Carvajal and Delahodde stayed close during the third set, and went on to enter into a tiebreaker where Carvajal did not drop a point en route to the 7-6 win.
The final home match of the season will be on Sunday, April 8, here in Logan where the Aggies will host Fresno state at noon. The teams two seniors, Barajas and Nakajima, will be honored during the Senior Day ceremonies.