Women’s tennis team drops heartbreaker to Weber State
The Utah State women’s tennis team lost a nail-biter 4-3 to Weber State Wednesday at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club.
The long match came down to the last set. USU had won the doubles point and had also won at No. 1 and No. 3 singles. So with the overall score deadlocked at 3-3 going into the final match, the No. 6 singles between USU’s Britney Watts and WSU’s Elsje Beneke was do or die.
The matchup was the only one to go to all three sets. Watts won the first set 7-5 and Beneke won the second 6-3. That led to a heartbreaking defeat for Watts and ultimately USU on the third and final set, 6-4.
Watts was getting into it and played hard all the way to the end.
“I fought my guts out, I left my heart on the court and the whole time I thought I was gonna win the match.” Watts said, following her match that lasted more than two and a half hours.
The Aggies first home match of the season got off to a good start, however, with Hailey Swenson and Bridgette Strickland winning their doubles matchup against Weber State’s Caroline Drugge and Britiny Moore, 9-7. Monica Abella and Carla Limon followed suit for the Aggies, defeating Karlie Hancock and Elsje Beneke of Weber State, 8-6 in the second doubles matchup. That secured the doubles point for USU.
USU sophomore Hailey Swenson dominated at No. 1 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0 against WSU’s Greyce Farias, and Abella defeated the Wildcats’ Caroline Drugge, 6-2, 7-6, at the No. 3 position.
Aggies coach Christian Wright was pleased with the team effort, but was disappointed after the loss.
“I thought it was a good team effort,” Wright said. “We’re kind of bummed a little because we didn’t get it in the end, but the focus was there and the fight was there.”
“It came down to that last match, and it was hard fought, she (Watts) gave everything she had, and a couple points are all it really boiled down to,” Wright said. “It happens. We just got to learn from it and come back a little sharper the next time.”
The loss drops the Aggies to 1-7 on the season.
USU will play host to the Idaho State Bengals Wed., March 4, at 1 p.m. at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club, where admission to USU games are free to the public. The matchup between ISU and Utah State will be the second this season. Utah State took the first match 6-1 in Pocatello Jan. 22.
Although the Aggies were noticeably disappointed after the loss they are going to use it as motivation and move on.
“I think it was good for our team – we came together and we cheered.” Watts said. “This is just gonna fire me up for the rest of my matches.”
–chet.gardner@aggiemail.usu.edu