Utah State loses to Idaho 6-1, Hawaii 7-0
by Megan Bodily
staff writer
The Utah State men’s tennis team took to home courts this weekend against University of Idaho and the University of Hawaii. Dropping both matches, USU is 4-11 in the season and falls 0-3 in Western Athletic Conference action.
USU 1, Idaho 6
USU jumped ahead in doubles action, but the Bengals roared back to capture two of the three pro-sets.
“It was a lot closer than the results show. It boiled down to inch here, inch there, point here, point there,” head coach Chris Wright said. “It was a few key points, but overall we competed well.”
Junior Sven Poslusny and freshman Marcus Fritz defeated Jose Bendeck and Cristobal Ramos-Salazar for the only doubles win of the day at the No. 1 doubles position. Down three games, the duo made a comeback to win the pro-set in a tie breaker, 9-8.
“We played well. We were down 6-3 and came back for the win,” Poslusny said. “We play really good together, and we are really comfortable playing with each other.”
The pairing of brothers junior Lenny Whiting and sophomore Andrew Whiting fell to Abid Akbar and Andrew Dobbs in the No. 2 doubles position 5-8.
Senior Nate Ballam and freshman Matt Sweet rounded out doubles action with a loss to Marius Cirstea and Filip Fichtel in the No. 3 doubles spot. The Aggies fell in a tie breaker, losing the match 8-9.
Poslusny was the only one to carry momentum over from the doubles matches, as he dismissed Cirstea in straight sets at the No. 1 singles spot. The German native took the win 6-4, 6-3.
“I played really well, very consistent and played very well in the big points,” Poslusny said. “I served really good and just played my game.”
The rest of the Aggies recorded losses, but it was not without a fight, as two three-set battles highlighted the rest of the day.
Ballam lost the first set 5-7, the Logan native coming back to win the second 6-3. With the match already decided, the third set was replaced by a super tie breaker to 10 points. A fight to the finish ensued, as neither player gained an advantage over the other.
“It was a heartbreaker – very disappointing,” Ballam said. “It’s a little bit of a mental block now, because it is time after time (of tie breakers). But it gives me more experience than everyone else in those third-set tie breakers.”
The Aggie dropped his third straight third-set tiebreaker 11-13.
“It would be better for me if we played the third set, but it’s a very mental thing, the tie breaker,” Ballam said. “I had the bottom hand, and it was very disappointing.”
Lenny Whiting also found himself in a three setter against Bendeck in the No. 4 singles position. The Aggie dropped the first set 3-6 but came back to claim the second 6-2. Whiting’s efforts were not enough, as the deciding set went to Bendeck 2-6.
Fritz was defeated by Akbar in the No. 2 singles position 2-6, 1-6, and Sweet also lost in straight sets to Ramos-Salazar 2-6, 3-6 in the No. 3 singles position.
Freshman Curran Wearmouth wrapped up singles action with a loss to Alan Shin, dropping in two sets 3-6, 4-6.
USU 0, Hawaii 7
USU’s woes continued as it met up with WAC rival Hawaii on Saturday. The Aggies were blanked by the Warriors, losing the contest 0-7.
The Aggies got off to a rough start in doubles, dropping all three pro-sets to Hawaii. Going into singles action, USU could not find the momentum to make the come-from-behind win.
“We came out strong in doubles, but we got broken, and that took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” assistant coach Bryan Marchant said. “We were deflated and came out a little flat in singles after that.”
Poslusny had the best effort against Jonathan Brooklyn in the No. 1 singles position. Poslusny and Brooklyn battled to gain the upperhand in the match, but neither did so successfully. The Aggie dropped the first set 5-7, as he scrambled line to line to stay in the rally against Brooklyn.
“(Brooklyn) doesn’t have a really big weapon – not a great serve or a really big shot – but he is really good on footwork,” Poslusny said of his match. “I wanted to be aggressive and use my serve, keep the ball in and look for my chances to come in.”
The Warrior began to unravel in the second set, screaming out in frustration at the conclusion of multiple points he lost. Poslusny worked the court with well-timed drop shots and defensive lobs to take the second set 6-3.
With the momentum seemingly on the junior’s racket, the match went into a third set tie breaker. Brooklyn and Poslusny battled at the baseline until an unforced error gave the Warrior a 7-5 lead. From then on, the Aggie could not break back to win the match, losing 5-7, 6-3, 7-10.
“I think I fought hard. If it had been a regular set, it would have been different,” Poslusny said. “(Brooklyn) came up with some really good tennis in the tie breaker.”
Straight set losses plagued the Aggies in the other matches, as Hawaii routinely dismissed USU’s young team.
“Hawaii came out fired up today from a loss yesterday (to UI), we just got outplayed in that last part of the match,” Marchant said. “The effort was good, but just getting more experienced.”
Fritz was dismissed by Dmytro Kovalyov 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 2 singles position and Lenny Whiting, filling in for injured Sweet, lost to Chas Okamoto 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 3 singles spot.
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bsp; Ballam fell against Nils Schuhmann 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 4 singles position and Wearmouth was defeated by Jared Spiker 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.
Seeing action for the second time this spring season, sophomore Brandon Nielsen lost in two sets against Danilo Casanova in the No. 6 singles position. The Logan native was served a bagel in the first set and lost the second set 3-6 to conclude singles action.
Utah State will conclude their regular season with three matches this week, starting with a rivalry matchup against Weber on Tuesday.
“We just have to be ready mentally, come out fired up,” Marchant said. “We are looking to beat them, always a good rivalry, looking to go down and get it done.”
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu