Women netters grab first singles sweep in PSU win
Fighting wind gusts of 25 mph and falling behind early weren’t enough to deter the Utah State women’s tennis team.
Rebounding from both Thursday’s heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Weber State, and losing the doubles point on Saturday, the Aggies (7-9) swept singles to blow by Portland State, 6-1.
Playing for the first time outside at the Sports Academy, both teams had to deal with the stiff wind, having to adjust on every shot.
“It’s really tough. You have to really, really focus and think about your [ball] spin and stuff like that,” said Aggie Carolyn Larsen.
But often the adjustments weren’t enough as balls would either get caught in the wind and float long, or come up short.
In the No. 5 singles match, after a shot sailed long, Portland State’s Haley McDonald yelled, “Oh, I hate this place.”
USU Head Coach Chris Wright said, “I heard some comments from some of the other players on the other team complaining about the wind. What are you going to do? I’m sure we didn’t like it either, but you just have to deal with it.”
And deal with it the Aggies did.
“I think if you play your best tennis, the wind isn’t that big of a factor to you,” said USU’s Lindsey Bennion.
At No. 1 singles, Aggie Caroline Pollock wasted no time in dispatching Katie Owens, 6-1, 6-2, to improve to 8-8 this spring.
In her No. 2 match, Larsen jumped up 4-1 in the first set and then held off a charge from Denise Cockrell to close out the set 6-4 and then win the second 6-2.
“I was really determined,” Larsen said. “I wanted to win so bad. I felt like I was going to win from the beginning.” Her determination showed when, during her first set, Larsen dove for a ball. She was able to make the return, scramble up and get to her opponents return shot, but Larsen’s next shot was a little short and caught the net.
During her dive, Larsen scraped her right leg and had to be patched up by a trainer.
“It was kind of fun actually,” she said. “I’ve never done that before. … I should have won the point, too.”
In the No. 3 and 4 matches, the Aggies had no problem with their opponents, as Bennion won 6-2, 6-1 over Katie Slizewski, and Jill Smith picked up a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lisa Bessman.
Suffering through a three-set loss at Weber, Shelly Ferguson rebounded with more aggressive play at No. 5. Going to the net and pressing her opponent when the opportunity arose, Ferguson defeated McDonald 6-3, 6-3.
“There’s been matches before where I’ve just stayed back too much and a lot of times it didn’t work,” Ferguson said. “I thought I’d try just going in [to the net] a little more, and of course I always need to go in a lot, but it definitely helped.”
Wright said, “She needs to do that. She’s so steady, so that’s what she will kind of gravitate toward is just being a backboard.”
In the only match that was split, Haley Hawkins was able to rally and defeat Blaze Wadum in a tiebreaker, 6-3, 4-6 (10-7).
Getting off to a slow start, Utah State lost two of the three doubles matches to give the Vikings the point.
“[The Vikings] played well,” Wright said. “They just beat us to the punch. They came out with a lot of intensity.”
In the Portland State victories at No. 2 and 3, Bessman and Slizewski defeated Hawkins and Larsen, 8-3, and McDonald and Wadum topped Smith and Holly Anderson, 8-4.
At No. 1, the Aggies duo of Pollock and Bennion continued to roll, winning its fourth straight match, an 8-5 victory over Owens and Cockrell.
The match was the first singles sweep this season, and also the first time the Aggies have rebounded to win after losing doubles.
-slbk5@cc.usu.edu