Women’s tennis team loses in Boise
The USU women’s tennis team hit the road this weekend to take on the Universities of Hawaii and Idaho at the neutral site of Boise and lost in both matches.
The Wahine from the islands managed to pitch a shutout against the Lady Ags, but USU improved in the second leg of the double header, falling against the lady Vandals, 5-2. USU is now 3-15 on the season, and 0-3 in WAC play. USU has defeated Idaho State twice this year and Seattle University once.
Looking plainly at the stat sheet for these matches, it would be difficult to find some bright spots amongst the various games and matches of this match. However, assistant coach Lucas Bouton said the numbers can be deceiving.
“I’m pleased with how we played,” Bouton said. “We didn’t take a step back this week against Hawaii, and we definitely picked it up against Idaho. We focused on improving positives. You know, obviously, we’re not happy with a loss, but we expect the girls to learn from it.”
The Lady Aggies started against Hawaii in the doubles sets, and were shut out. The closest of the Aggies to defeating their opponent in the doubles sets were Hailey Swenson and Bridgette Strickland, who fell to Hawaii’s Sophie Kobuch and Anja-Vanessa Peter. Also competing in doubles action for USU were Abella Calleja and Carla Limon who were defeated 8-3, and Britney Watts and Taylor Perry who lost their set 8-1, just avoiding the shutout.
In singles action, the Aggies put up a worthy effort, but could not overcome the Wahine. All six individual matches were won by Hawaii in two sets, as USU couldn’t manage to win any of the sets in singles play against Hawaii.
Bouton said there were some silver linings to the dark clouds in singles action as well.
“Monica (Abella) did well at the number three spot. She played some real intelligent tennis,” Bouton said. “Hailey, at the number one spot, has had the toughest match every time. She does a good job fighting in there, even though she didn’t come out on top.”
However, Bouton also said there were some factors which contributed to the blowout loss and identified a few items that the has been working on and will continue to work on.
“We played outside up there against Hawaii,” Bouton said. “There’s a difference between and indoor match and an outdoor match with the wind and the elements. It took our players a little longer to get used to. Hawaii is a very, very consistent team. You know, we’ve been struggling in close matches maintaining a winner’s attitude. We bring our losses into the next match, and that affects our mentality. The quality of our tennis is fine, but it’s tough to win when you lose close matches at the beginning for us. Our confidence will improve with time. These girls are much better than they were on day one of the season, and they will continue to get better through next year as well, starting on day one.”
USU did much better against Idaho, Bouton said. He said after scouting them, USU knew how Idaho was going to come out and play, and there was no surprise. USU just couldn’t manage to convert when it mattered most, Bouton said, but the team definitely picked it up and played harder against Hawaii.
In the Idaho match, two USU players were able to win their singles matches, and although the Lady Ags were unable again to win a set in the doubles portion of the match, Watts and Perry managed to fight back from a 4-0 start to take the set into a tie-breaker.
Abella, a freshman, trounced Idaho’s Alexandra Ulesanu in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, and Strickland managed to fight through two sets to get to a third, 6-7, 6-2. Since Idaho already had four points and as there was no possible way for USU to win the overall match, a super tie-breaker scheme was used for the third set. Strickland handily won it, 10-4.
This week the Aggies will again hit the road to take on a non-conference opponent. They will travel to Ogden to take on Weber State for the second time this year. Bouton said it should be a good match.
“Weber is a very close rival. With the way that we’ve been playing, it should be good,” Bouton said.
The match will be Tuesday, April 7, at 2 p.m. Weber State leads this season’s series 1-0.
–la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu