Women’s tennis loses in nailbiter
Utah State’s women’s tennis team’s match versus Weber State couldn’t have been any closer, but in the end the Aggies couldn’t come out on top.
Tied at 3-3 with one match yet to go, number six singles Andrea Hansen lost a hard-fought battle to Weber State’s Karla Pretorius, giving Weber a 4-3 victory.
In doubles play, Lindsey Bennion and Carolyn Stephens came out on top, winning the proset 8-5. This was Bennion and Stephens’ first doubles victory of the season.
Andrea Hansen and Richelle Moon played hard but lost their match versus Robertina Marcu and Kate Ennega, 8-6.
Skyline High products Jill Smith and Lauren Monson have been solid this season, but lost their match to Weber’s Elana Smit and Pretorius. Weber State won the doubles point, which proved to be very costly at the end of the day.
Aggie Courtney Anderson has enjoyed a lot of success on the court lately, and yesterday was no different. Anderson won her third-straight singles match, defeating Chelsee Drews in two straight sets, 6-2, and 6-1.
“Courtney is a good all-court player,” said Head Coach Christian Wright. “She’s playing smart, and she’s playing good tennis right now.”
In the other singles matches, Bennion played well, defeating Marcu 6-3, 6-2.
Moon, one of two seniors on the team, also had success in singles play. Moon defeated Smit 6-3, 6-1.
Stephens, a junior, was in a close match with Ennega, though the match only lasted two sets, with Ennega winning 6-4, 6-4. The two players were very evenly matched and it could have gone either way.
Following Stephens’ loss, the match was to be determined for the Aggies by Smith and Hansen. Smith lost her first set to Weber’s Briana Beauchene, 6-2. Courageously, she fought back to control the second set, winning 6-3.
What happened next changed the whole momentum of the match. Beauchene summoned a trainer to examine her elbow, which was a reoccurring injury. There was a long delay, and undoubtedly this hurt the pace that Smith had immediately after the second set.
“The trainer came on and there was an injury timeout, and it cooled us down a little bit,” Wright said.
Given time to recuperate, Beauchene defeated Smith 6-2 to conclude the match.
Despite the loss, Wright is optimistic about his young team, “I have a lot of faith in these girls, they have a lot of talent, and they’re very coachable,” he said.
-bcb@cc.usu.edu