USU tennis teams return from Montana road swing
After dropping the first match in a three-match road trip, the Utah State University men’s tennis team came back to pick up a win before dropping the final match of the trip.
The Aggies played in the Montana State University Invitational, Friday and Saturday, while Sunday, they traveled to Moscow, Idaho to face the University of Idaho.
Against Montana State Friday, the Aggies were unable to earn the victory, falling 5-2 to the Bobcats.
“Everyone fought hard and was focused,” Head Coach Chris Wright said. “We just came up short.”
The Aggies only two points came at No. 5 and 6 singles. Jason Trask defeated Eddie Yank, 6-1, 6-0, and Steve Peterson beat Cameron Mayo, 6-3, 6-1.
In the rest of singles play, MSU was victorious as Thijs Goossens defeated Andy Madersbacher 6-3, 6-3, Lukasz Mazur won over Clayton Thomas 6-3, 6-0, BJ Hauch defeated Johan Nelson 7-6, 6-3, and Braden Olson edged Jordan Butler, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the doubles matches, the Aggies picked up one win with Nelson and Butler defeating Olson and Jason Swanson, 8-6.
The Bobcats picked up the other two victories for the point as Goossens and Hauch won over Madersbacher and Thomas, 8-4, and Mazur and Yang came out on top of Trask and Peterson, 8-4.
In the second day of the tournament, the Aggies came out on top, defeating the University of Montana, 6-1.
“It was good to see them bounce back,” Wright said. “Everybody came out and went after it.”
The Aggies earned the doubles point with victories by Madersbacher and Thomas, and Nelson and Butler.
In singles, Utah State won five of its six matches with victories by Thomas, Nelson, Butler, Trask and Peterson.
Trask remained undefeated in singles play, improving to 5-0, after moving up to compete in the No. 4 spot.
Wright said he was glad the team earned some straight-set victories to give them time to rest in preparation for Idaho.
At Idaho, Wright said the Aggies had to deal with extremely fast courts and fell to the Vandals, 7-0.
“They played good on their home court,” he said. “They have one of the biggest home-court advantages I’ve seen.”
The lone Aggie victory was by Madersbacher and Thomas in No. 1 doubles.
“In singles he had our chances,” Wright said. “Our rhythm was just off.”
Despite the loss, Wright said he thought the Aggies matched up well against Idaho.
“We just didn’t play up to our level,” he said. “I look forward to possibly playing them again at [the Big West Conference tournament].”
Utah State will resume play Feb. 14 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas hosted Nevada Invitational. The Aggies are scheduled to play matches Thursday and Friday.