Utah State men's tennis (6-0, 1-0 MW) shocked No. 70 San Diego State (2-1, 0-1 MW), 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club, as the undefeated Aggies picked up their first Mountain West win since joining the league. All eyes were on freshman Jaime Barajas, who clinched the match for Utah State with the score tied 3-3.
"I think in the beginning we thought San Diego State might give it to us, and we were playing scared and just hoping. You can't play that way; you have to go for it," USU head coach Clancy Shields said. "At the beginning of the match, we were puppies, and at the end of the match, you saw a freshman come out and play like a big dog. I'm pumped about that."
The match started in doubles, where the Aggies failed to earn the doubles point for just the second time this season. First, sophomore transfer Karan Salwan and Barajas fell to Thorsten Bertsch and Andranik Khachatryan, 6-2, at the third position, before senior Matt Sweet and sophomore transfer Jack Swindells defeated Marko Goles-Babic and Santiago Cevallos, 6-3, at the second position. However, senior Marcus Fritz and sophomore Dennis Baumgartner dropped a close match in a tiebreaker, 7-6, to Hendrik Jebens and Freddy Gelbrich at the first position.
As the match moved to singles, Salwan quickly evened up the score by topping Milen Ianakiev, 6-2, 7-5, at the No. 4 spot. Then, the Aztecs answered as Goles-Babic defeated Fritz, 6-3, 7-6, at the No. 3 spot before Baumgartner tied it back up by coming from behind to win in three sets, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, against Gelbrich at the No. 2 spot. San Diego State pulled ahead in the dual match, 3-2, as Bertsch edged Swindells, 7-5, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot. Utah State needed to win its last two matches to earn the dual win.
Sophomore Sebastian Schneider came out strong and easily defeated Cevallos, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 5 spot to even the dual match score at 3-3. Then, the entire crowd moved over to watch court three, where Barajas and Jebens were locked into the closest match of the day. Barajas quickly went down, 5-2, in the first set, but he forced a tiebreaker that he won, 7-6 (7-2). In the second set, neither student-athlete gained more than a one-game lead, forcing another tiebreaker at 6-6. Barajas earned a late 7-6 edge in the tiebreaker before putting it away, 7-6 (8-6), giving Utah State its first Mountain West victory of the season.
The Aggies are back in action Friday, Jan. 30, when they host Montana at the Sports Academy and Racqueet club. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. MT.
Doug Hoffman is the associate athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.