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USU women’s tennis loses final home match

Utah State women’s tennis lost their last home match Sunday morning to No. 48 New Mexico 4-0.

The Aggies honored Lexi Turley, who will graduate at the end of the semester, before the final home match of the year. Turley has left a lasting legacy at Utah State — she is in the top 10 in doubles wins with 42 and in total career wins with 73. She is also top 15 in program history in singles wins with 31.

“She’s a fantastic, hard-working girl,” said USU head coach Sean McInerney. “She’s an unbelievable teammate, a great positive supporter of the program and the girls adore her.”

The match started with doubles where sophomore Maggie O’Meara and freshman Monika Van De Vondel lost the first match 6-1. New Mexico would clinch the doubles point with a 6-4 win over junior Nini Guensler and Turley. Sophomore Sabrina Demerath and junior Ekaterina Tugarinova were tied 5-5, but they would not finish after New Mexico clinched the doubles point.

Sophomore Maggie O’Meara lost her match 6-3, 6-3 to give the Lobos a 2-0 lead over the Aggies. Demerath fought a tough match but would lose 6-4, 6-3. New Mexico then clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tugarinova. Van De Vondel and sophomore Meghan Lyall would not play their matches due to New Mexico winning overall.

Guensler fell behind early in the first set of her match, but would climb back to force a tiebreak. She lost the tiebreak 7-4 to hand the first set to New Mexico. Guensler started off strong in the second set going up 3-1, but the match was called at 7-6, 3-2 after New Mexico clinched the overall match.

“I think we’re starting to play some of our best tennis,” McInerney said. “We’ve got to tighten up our decision making, but our competitive intensity was very good today.”

The Aggies continue their season on Friday when they visit Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado. After that, USU will travel to Wyoming and Boise State to finish out the regular season of conference play.

The Aggies will compete for the Mountain West title the weekend of April 28 in Fort Collins, Colorado at the Mountain West tournament.

— joebaraiolo@gmail.com

Twitter: @joefish_2