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Show StatesmanSports Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 Page 11 Men's tennis takes victory over Weber State, 4-3, Wednesday BY USU ATHLETICS Utah State men's tennis squeezed past in-state rival Weber State, 4-3, Wednesday. The Aggies improve to an even 4-4 season record with the non-conference win, while Weber State dropped to 3-5. Utah State hit the courts in good stride, taking the doubles point with victories at the one and two positions. Juniors Jakob Asplund and Bryan Marchant triumphed at the No. 1 spot, defeating the Wildcats' Sascha Kiehne and Dave Hintze, 8-6. Senior Amit Maharaj and freshman Sven Poslusny took the victory over WSU's Cole Paterson and Henning Hipp, 8-4, at the No. 2 spot. Partners Maharaj and Poslusny hold an Aggie season-high record of 6-2 in doubles competition, at the No. 2 position. USU battled through singles action with wins at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots. Maharaj defeated WSU's Dave Hintze, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 4 position, while freshman Nikita Ryashchenko took the point over the Wildcats' Ben Rode, 6-3, 61, at the No. 6 spot. The Aggies held an even 3-3 score till junior Alex Thatcher sealed the USU victory with a win at the No. 4 spot, over WSU's Cole Paterson, 6-4, 6-1. Asplund, Poslusny and Marchant all fell in their matches to WSU's Simon Unger, Hipp and Kiehne, respectively. Utah State continues home action Saturday, Feb. 20, against Mesa State at 10 a.m. All home matches are held at the Logan Sports Academy and Racquet Club and are free and open to the public. JAKOB ASPLUND (LEFT) AND DOUBLES PARTNER, BRYAN MARCHANT, lunges for the ball during Wednesday's home match against Weber State. Asplund and Marchant won their doubles match against Weber's Sascha Kiehne and Dave Hintze, 8-6 CODY GOCHNOUR photo Hot: Aggie second-half surge was too little too late against Fresno State continued from page 9 dent, and we play off each other, and we're able to catch up." Pebley counts on White to pick up the team members when they're down. "Amber was confident, she was a good leader," Pebley said. "I think that confidence was great as she maintained it even when we got down, and she kept trying to lead her team and finally it became contagious to her teammates." White was "white" hot in this game. She shot 12-24 from the field, along with dropping three 3-pointers. White played all 40 minutes of this contest. "I guess the drive to win kind of keeps me going," White said. "There are different teams where I get more open shots, and there are teams where I don't get so many. I just took advantage of it tonight. I hit the first couple and felt confident, so I kept going with it." On the offensive end, it seemed as if White and Fresno State's top scorer Jaleesa Ross, who finished with 31, were battling back and forth throughout the night. "I don't really see it that way," White said. "She's one of the leading scorers in the conference, so it's not like she doesn't ever do that. It's not something we weren't expecting out of her." The Aggies (4-7) were the definite underdogs in this game against Fresno State, who is the top "bulldog" in the WAC sitting at 11-0. White said it was all about "attitude." "They're the top team in the conference, and everybody wants to knock them off their high horse," White said. "We don't go in there with any intimidation, just the attitude of one team playing another, not paying attention to records or anything like that." Like Pebley mentioned, the team feeds off the confidence and leadership of White. "I just knew that we could beat them," Furtado said. "We came back from being down so much, and we came back, and we were so close, and we almost finished it. But they are such a good team and so are we. We're a team to play with as well." Obviously, a loss in the statistical eye is bad, but White said she and her teammates could pull out more confidence from Wednesday night's game. "It gives a message to all the other teams in the conference that we're a team to play with, not just something that everybody can roll over," White said. "So I think we made a statement tonight even with the loss." USU travels to Las Cruces next Tuesday, Feb. 23 to take on New Mexico State (6-6), who is Split: USU and La. Tech both win on their home court this season continued from page 9 Ags finished the night shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc. Junior forward Nate Bendall finished the night with 11 points and nine rebounds. His biggest three points of the night came in the waning moments of the Clutch: Pooh gets 15 in 2nd half continued from page 10 falling for me tonight." Williams locked down on Gibson early, Before Williams took over, the Aggies had holding the senior to 2-of-11 shooting in the been held without a field goal for four minopening half and 4-of-18 overall — 1-of-8 from utes. Including that four-minute stretch, no 3-point range. The suffocating effort earned other USU player scored until Wesley hit a pair Williams some serious praise from his coach. of free throws with 3:46 to play — a 10-minute "Kyle Gibson is an all-league player, and stretch. he went 4-for-18 . Somebody was doing After the game, Williams' something right," Morrill coach was not alone in his praise "Pooh, I can't said. "Obviously Pooh gets for the athletic guard. Teammates say enough that assignment a lot — he has and fans were full of complito guard the other teams best about how much ments, in the tunnel, following perimeter player a lot. He just the Aggie's 11th consecutive win. he stepped up did a great job. Overall, it might "That was huge, that was have been his finest hour as an tonight. He's a probably the turning point right fantastic player Aggie. He was good tonight, there," said senior Jared Quayle of really good." Williams' scoring barrage. "Pooh, and you've got to With all the attention after give him credit I can't say enough about how the win, Williams was much much he stepped up tonight. He's for carrying us more modest about his play. a fantastic player, and you've got tonight." "He's a heck of a player, to give him credit for carrying us averaging 21 points," he said. _Jared Quayle, senior "When I guard players like that, tonight." point guard my goal is just to keep them As inspired as Williams was on the offensive side of the ball, he under their average and not let was equally — if not more so — brilliant on the them shoot a good percentage. So I just went defensive side of things. out and tried to give it all I had tonight. That's For Williams, who is often assigned to what I wanted to do." the opposing team's best perimeter threat, Wednesday night was no different. Louisiana — tolsen@aggiemail.usu.edu Tech guard Kyle Gibson entered the game, averaging 21 points a night. ENTER TO WIN! 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Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation, with the Aggies up by two and 29 seconds left in the game, but Bendall sniffed out the rebound underneath the basket for a put-back lay-up with a foul. "Nate's rebound was huge," Quayle said. "That was a big play, because we were up only two at the time, and we missed that free throw, and he got that board. We went up by five — that was a huge play." Next, the Aggies will face the Wichita State Shockers out of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers defeated last place Evansville Wednesday at home in overtime, 76-70. Junior forward JT Durley scored 16 points in the Shockers' victory. Currently, the Shockers are in second place in the MVC, behind No. 24 Northern Iowa. "All I know is they're a really good team," Quayle said. "We're expecting them to come in here and give us a good game." Tip-off against the Shockers is slated for Saturday 10 p.m. in the Spectrum. The game will be televised on ESPN2, as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters. — ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu |