The Seattle University women’s tennis team earned three singles victories, but the Utah State Aggies was able to earn the important doubles point and used that to pull out a 4-3 victory Saturday in a neutral site match at Portland State University.
Seattle University’s number one doubles team of Audree Jenks (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Nicole Fleckenstein (Seattle, Wash.) was able to pull out an 8-7 victory over Hailey Swenson and Bridgette Strickland. Utah State recovered and won the next two doubles sets, as Monica Abella and Carla Limon defeated Ariel Ohno (Kent, Wash.) and Katrina Schwab (Spokane, Wash.) in the number two position, 8-2, and Brittany Watts and Taylor Perry were victorious over Whitney Cheng (Seattle, Wash.) and Mikalea Peterson (Spokane, Wash.) in the number three position, 8-2.
In the number two singles position, Jenks dropped the first set against Strickland, but prevailed in a long second-set tiebreaker and pulled out the victory in the third set (4-6, 7-6 (13-11), 6-0). At the number five position, Schwab won the first set and dropped the second set to Limon, but she was able to earn the victory on a super-tiebreaker win (7-5, 4-6, [11-9]).
Cheng earned Seattle University’s other official victory in the number four singles spot, defeating Perry in straight sets (6-3, 6-0). In an exhibition match, Peterson defeated Cady Andelin after yet another tough tiebreaker in the second set (6-4, 7-6 (10-8)).
Utah State picked up three singles victories to win the match, as Swenson defeated Ohno in the number one singles position (6-2, 6-1), Abella earned a win over Fleckenstein in the number three singles slot (6-2, 6-3), and Watts defeated Aya Sugimoto (Poulsbo, Wash.) in the number six singles position (6-0, 6-1).
Seattle University (2-3) returns home and welcomes Gonzaga University for a dual match tomorrow, March 15. If the weather is good enough, the match will be played at the SeattleU Tennis Courts beginning at 10 a.m. If not, then the site will be the Amy Yee Tennis Club with a 12 noon start.
Utah State 4, Seattle University 3
Singles
1) Hailey Swenson (USU) def. Ariel Ohno (SU) 6-2, 6-1
2) Audree Jenks (SU) def. Bridgette Strickland (USU) 4-6, 7-6 (13-11), 6-0
3) Monica Abella (USU) def. Nicole Fleckenstein (SU) 6-2, 6-3
4) Whitney Cheng (SU) def. Taylor Perry (USU) 6-3, 6-0
5) Katrina Schwab (SU) def. Carla Limon (USU) 7-5, 4-6, (11-9)
6) Brittany Watts (USU) def. Aya Sugimoto (SU) 6-0, 6-1
Exh.) Mikalea Peterson (SU) def. Cady Andelin (USU) 6-4, 7-6 (10-8)
Doubles
1) Fleckenstein/Jenks (SU) def. Swenson/Strickland (USU) 8-7
2) Abella/Limon (USU) def. Schwab/Ohno (SU) 8-2
3) Watts/Perry (USU) def. Cheng/Peterson (SU) 8-2
Utah State wins doubles point