Women’s tennis outlasts Weber State
It came down to two freshmen, but in the end Aggie Haley Hawkins was victorious, propelling the Utah State University women’s tennis team to a 4-3 victory over Weber State University, the first victory over the Wildcats in school history.
“Hopefully the monkey is gone,” Aggie coach Chris Wright said. “[Weber has] beaten us pretty soundly up until the last couple of years. We’ve just steadily gotten a little bit better every year and I’m really pleased we were able to get the win.”
Utah State started its women’s tennis program in 1987 and the Aggies had never beaten Weber, until Wednesday.
With the teams tied 3-3, Hawkins found herself in the final match against freshman Chelsee Drews. Hawkins won the first set 6-4, but fell behind 3-1 early in the second set. Hawkins was able to come up with four straight games to go up 5-3 and then earn the 6-4 victory.
“I just knew that I had to work my butt off and I wanted to just fight for the team,” Hawkins said. “I wanted to hit my shots how I knew I could hit them. I was just trying to play tennis the way I can do it.”
Wright said, “I had faith in Haley to go out there and get the win. She just focused extremely well and she did everything we asked her to do.”
While Hawkins was playing, Wright said he didn’t tell her the match would be the deciding match.
“I had no idea and I’m so glad they didn’t tell me,” Hawkins said. “It probably would have made me really nervous.”
Early in the match, Utah State was able to take the lead by winning the doubles point.
Wright has been stressing the importance of the doubles point all season, and this time the Aggies won.
Aggies’ Sarah Lowe and Caroline Pollock lost, 9-7, to Therina Steenkamp and Dana DeLancey, but Carolyn Larsen and Hawkins defeated Weber’s Briana Beauchene and Tara Rosenzweig, 8-5, and Utah State’s Amy Thatcher and Jocee Bergeson won, 8-5, over Tiffany Smith and Drews.
“It was huge,” Wright said. “We played well at all three doubles.”
Larsen and Hawkins started their doubles match down 3-0, but with their comeback, Hawkins said it helped set the tone for singles play.
When Hawkins fell behind 3-1 in the second set of singles, she said she was confident after her doubles match she could come back.
“I thought, ‘I did this with doubles, I can do it here,'” Hawkins said.
Despite losing in her doubles match, Pollock said doubles motivated her for singles.
“[The loss] made me want to definitely come back and win my singles,” Pollock said.
In singles, Weber picked up three of the other five matches with Steenkamp beating Lowe, 6-1, 6-2, DeLancey defeating Bergeson, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Rosenzweig victorious over Larsen, 6-3, 6-4.
The Aggies earned their other two points, in addition to Hawkins’ victory, at three and four singles. Pollock won her match, 6-4, 7-6 over Beauchene, and Shelly Ferguson defeated Smith, 6-4, 7-6.
Being one of only four home matches the Aggies have scheduled this year, Wright said he was happy for the fan support and in the future hopes more people will attend.
Pollock said the support of her family and the fans was a key in her match.
“It helped so much,” she said. “Just the encouragement, it keeps you up and you have support. It always makes you feel good.”
With the victory, the Aggies are now 5-4 on the season. Their next scheduled match is April 3, a rematch with Weber State in Ogden.