USU tennis squad drops two over weekend
After a 7-0 loss to a very tough BYU team on Friday, the Utah State men’s tennis team looked to regroup and come out strong as they headed into their match in Provo against Denver on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Aggie men, the match would play out nearly the same as the day before, as USU fell to Denver 6-1.
USU’s only win for the weekend came Saturday against Denver as Jason Trask won at number four singles. Although the Aggies played hard, that would be the only win for them.
With the two losses this weekend, the Aggies fall to 1-2 on the season while Denver improves to 2-0.
Trask, who improved to 2-0 playing at number four, was able to defeat Denver’s Urban Ljubic in two sets, 6-3 and 6-2. Junior Roshan Rasekhi came close to winning as well, playing at number three, but he fell in three sets to Viktor Zetterholm, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Lukas Bouton was able to play for his first time in the spring season at number six singles, but he fell as well to Niki Popovic of Denver, 6-2, 6-1.
Hungsoon Park and Hannes Schenk, playing at the number one and number two singles, both fell to their opponents. Nejc Smole defeated Park 6-4, 6-3. Schenk fell to DU’s Hans Peter Gaber 7-5 and 6-3. Ryan Bair was also defeated by Denver’s Jason Tan 6-2, 6-3 at the number five singles.
“I thought we played a few solid matches,” said Utah State Head Coach Christian Wright. “Denver is a very good team, which they showed Friday night by upsetting No. 61 BYU.”
The men’s team has yet to win a doubles match as it lost the opening doubles point for the third time this season. Park and Hannes Schenk were the closest as they fell to Denver’s Smole and Zetterholm 8-6. Ryan Bair and Trask fell to Popovic and Gaber 8-3 and Bouton and Rasekhi fell to Tan and Ljubic 8-4.
“We had a tough weekend,” said Aggie Jonah Nelson who was unable to play because he pulled his hamstring in the doubles match-up against BYU. Freshman Tyler Bastian was also unable to play due to a torn hamstring and will be unable to play for two to six weeks. The injuries definitely didn’t help the team as they went against Denver.
“I think injuries, no matter where a person plays, are going to affect the team,” Nelson said. “Right now, we are just looking to get back to playing how we did against Air Force. We need confidence whenever we are on the court.”
Friday the tennis team is continuing their four-game road trip at the University of Utah and they are looking to have another historic win. The Aggies have yet to beat the Ute tennis team, and after their performance against Air Force, they are looking to notch that first win.
“Utah is always a tough challenge,” Nelson said. “We are looking forward to playing hard against them.”
USU is looking to improve its record again as the two teams face off Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. down at the U.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu