USU tennis claims match vs. Bengals
One down, one to go.
The USU men’s tennis team won the first of two matches in two days Tuesday as they beat Idaho State University, 5-2, at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
Today they will travel to Provo to play BYU, their second match in as many days.
The match against Idaho State did not start as well as it ended. The Aggies struggled in the doubles matches, a result of not being prepared enough, Aggie Head Coach Chris Wright said.
“We didn’t play well on doubles,” Wright said of his team’s start. “We didn’t have great intensity. We won No. 2 pretty quick, but one and three we didn’t look as into it as we should have been.”
After failing to secure the doubles point, the Aggies woke up. They rolled through the singles, winning five out of six matches. They seemed to pick up the intensity they lacked in doubles and were able to put together a solid win, Wright said, bringing his team’s season record to 8-7.
“Much better job at singles,” Wright said. “We played with much more intensity. The effort wasn’t what it needed to be. It doesn’t do any good to feel bad about it. We just needed to have control over our movement, our shot selection.”
Oscar Erricson, a freshman who has been playing at the No. 1 singles spot, struggled and failed to get a win. The rest of the singles players, however, were able to dominate their opponents.
Hannes Schenk (7-5, 6-2), Fernando Gallegos (6-4, 6-3), Jonas Tyden (6-1, 6-1), Mike Banks (6-2, 6-0) and Dantley Young (6-0, 6-1) each won their matches, helping lift the Aggies to victory despite the rough start.
The change of the team from doubles to singles will hopefully carry over to their next match on Wednesday, when they face BYU in Provo, Wright said.
When asked about playing their southern rival, Wright said BYU is a quality team, and it will be tough to come back to Logan with a victory.
“They are a good team,” he said. “We are going to have our chances. We have to be mentally where we need to be. We will have a good chance to beat that team, but we need to be mentally prepared.”
Wright said he feels confident about his team’s ability to compete with BYU, especially with a team that has so many weapons.
“We have a team with a lot of good depth,” Wright said of the Aggies.
-wwm@cc.usu.edu