Women’s tennis team has rough weekend
USU women’s tennis traveled to Las Cruces, N.M., this weekend, only to drop all three matches and fall to an 8-10 season record and 1-4 in conference play. Utah State played a doubleheader Friday and one match Saturday.
“There was a lot we could have done better during these matches,” head coach Christian Wright said. “We definitely didn’t play up to our normal level of intensity, and a lot of concentration was lost.”
Wind and sun proved difficult for many of the players. Some matches went unfinished because of problems with play outdoors.
The Ags were up against Fresno State in their first match of the weekend, losing 4-1. Junior Hayley Swenson was up to play first, falling to Fresno’s Renata Kucerkova, 6-1, 6-3. Freshman Jaclyn West, at No. 2, proved victorious – the only victory of the match. West played Laure Pola, winning 6-2, 4-1. At No. 3 singles, freshman Kristina Voytsekhovich played a successful but unfinished match against Bianca Modoc, the closing score 7-6, 3-1. Sophomore Monica Abella fell to Melissa McQueen at No. 4, 6-2, 6-2, and at No. 4, Julia Gragera-Cano defeated junior Taylor Perry, 6-0, 6-1. Senior Britney Watts also played an in incomplete match again Anna Mikhaylova, 6-3, 2-2.
Doubles was a harsh fight for Utah State, losing in all three positions and, therefore, dropping the point.
Swenson and West, at No. 1, played a scoreless match, losing 8-0 to Kucerkova and Pola. Perry and Voytsekhovich, at No. 2, lost 8-1 to Modoc and McQueen, and Watts and Abella lost 8-4 to Mikhaylova and Gragera-Cano, at No. 3.
USU fell to New Mexico State next, losing 5-1.
“It’s hard to stay positive when you’re losing,” Wright said. “A lot of the girls fight really hard and lose. You don’t see those individual battles in the overall score. A lot of partial results help them stay positive.”
Swenson, at No. 1, beat NMSU’s Sophia Marks, 7-5, 6-4. Wright described the match as “one of the small victories within a loss” and added that the team needs to “not forget these little victories. They keep our spirits up.” West lost 6-4, 6-4 to Manon Sylvain at No. 2, and at No. 3, Voytsekhovich battled through three sets to come out on top, beating Isabela Kulai, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. Abella, at No. 4, fell to New Mexico’s Ginet Pinero 6-1, 7-5, and Perry lost to Natalia Salum 6-0, 6-2. Britney was again unable to finish her match against Elizabth Tapia in the No. 6 position.
Swenson and West won the No. 1 doubles match against Kulaif and Costa, but the No. 2 and 3 matches were marked by losses, and the point was dropped. Voytsekhovich and Perry lost 8-2 at No. 2, and Abella and Watts lost 8-1 at No. 3.
Utah State finished up with a match against Nevada on Saturday, also a loss.
Nevada took all three wins in doubles action, leaving USU with only one point to claim. Swenson and West lost 8-5 to Mizyuk and Stevens at No.1, and Perry and Voytsekhovich fell to Nevada’s Ogata and Verberne, 8-3, at No. 2. Abella and Watts lost to DeVrye and Laurioux, 8-2, finishing up doubles action for the day.
Swenson fell to Maria Mizyuk, 6-4, 6-2, at the No. 1 position. West, at No. 2, stole the only point, with a win against Nevada’s Emma Verberne. The match was retired after the first set, the score of which was 5-2. Voytsekhovich fell at No. 3 to Florence De Vrye, 7-5, 6-4, and at No. 4, Abella lost 6-2, 6-0 to Lais Ogata. Nevada’s Aline Laurioux stole the No. 5 point from Perry, winning 6-1, 6-3. Britney Watts finished up singles action with a loss at No. 6, falling to Aodhnait Lombard, 6-0, 6-0.
“Three matches in 24 hours is physically very challenging,” Wright said. “It’s tough to play doubleheaders, but the girls held up well. There were a lot of problems concerning the elements, but the girls never once complained about the sun in their eyes or the wind.”
The Aggies faces in-state rival Weber State this Wednesday, whom they beat 7-0 earlier in the season.
“We are going to take the things we learned and apply them to this match,” Wright said. “We do the best we can, and that’s all.”
– kayla.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu