Utah State tennis downs UNLV
The men’s tennis team kicked off a series of six-straight Mountain West games with a 4-1 victory over UNLV Saturday at the Sports Academy & Racquet Club.
In the doubles portion, freshman Felipe Acosta and Addy Vashistha opened the match with a 6-3 win over senior Ruben Alberts and freshman Jordan Sauer.
Senior Jaime Barajas and freshman Jose Carvajal sealed the doubles point for the Aggies with a win of 6-3 at the No. 1 spot against seniors Alexandr Cozbinov and Courtney Lock.
Senior Andrew Nakajima and freshman Valdemar Holm followed behind 4-5 at the No. 2 spot against sophomore Eric Samuelsson and freshman Clayton Alenik, but the match resulted as unfinished due to results on other courts.
“It was a great start for us,” said USU head coach James Wilson. “We came out ready to play in doubles and really just had a lot of energy. In singles, we got off to a good start for the most part on all the courts. Felipe [Acosta] at four was down at first, and Jaime [Barajas] had a really close first set. I was just really, really happy with Jaime and Felipe. They showed a lot of resolve after losing first sets, coming back and battling. For Sammy [Serrano] to win easy like that quickly made a huge difference for us. It was just awesome to see Jaime close it out like that because that’s a really good player he beat, and he did a great job of staying the course and playing his game. It was good.”
During singles, junior Samuel Serrano lost just two games to pull USU up 2-0, with a 6-2 and 6-0 win at the No. 3 slot against Alberts.
On the other three courts, UNLV won each of the first sets. Lock came out victorious, 7-5, 6-3, at the No. 2 spot against sophomore Sergiu Bucur. Acosta, following his loss of the first set, bounced back to win the second, 6-4, at the No. 4 spot against Samuelsson. Acosta and Samuelsson were neck-and-neck in the third set, with Acosta snatching the set and the victory in a tiebreaker, 7-6.
“The most important thing is to play forward, thinking of the next point,” Acosta said. “The last point doesn’t matter because it’s in the past. The other most important thing is to keep going . I really want to win, so its the main idea I have when I play in a match.”
Everyone’s attention zoned in on the No. 1 spot where Barajas and Cozbinov — who is ranked No. 85 in the nation in singles — were competing in their third set. Cozbinov took the win in the first set with a tiebreaker, 7-6, followed by Barajas firing back with a tiebreaker victory in the second, 7-6. Barajas claimed the win for Utah State with a 6-2 victory in the third set. This win was the third time this season that Barajas has defeated a nationally-ranked singles competitor.
“We are not going to be a super talented team that just blows you off the court.” Wilson said. “We’re gonna be a gritty and tough team that makes a lot of noise. The guys really play for each other, that’s what I’m trying to convince them to do. The way they do that is by cheering and making a lot of noise, even if you’re not playing. It’s all part of the culture.”
The Aggies will move forward with their Mountain West slate on Sunday, April 1, as the team goes against San Diego State in California. The time for the match will be released on the men’s tennis social media platforms.