After two straight losses, the Weber State University men’s tennis team got their first win of the year against Idaho State University on Wednesday. The Cat’s ended the match with a 5-2 win on the Reed Gym Courts in Pocatello, Idaho.
The team had some strong wins, which Head Coach Jared Burnham said were well needed to jump start the season. He said that after losing two matches in a row, a win like this gives hope and proof that they can and will have a successful season. Before the match, Burnham told the team they needed to play with a lot of excitement.
In the match against ISU, Unger and Good beat opponents Dakota Pate and Charles Norman for the No. 1 seat to remain undefeated on the season. Unger said they expected a tough match from ISU and were pleased with the outcome.
“Going into the match, we knew it was going to be a tough one because of our opponent’s recent win against Utah State,” Unger said. “We brought the energy unlike we did in our previous matches. That is one of the biggest factors of winning matches.”
The match was close for most of the sets. Unger and Good fought for 9-7 win for WSU. Good said that in the match against ISU the team performed great and was happy to get the win.
Overall the doubles came out with a clean sweep against the Bengals. Dave Hintze and Ryan Garner won their match against Krzyzstof Stempien and Austin Miller, winning 8-5 at the No. 3 seat. Caio Poitena and Peter Ramstromer Pello beat Nate Gross and Dan Buckingham. Their score was 8-6 at the No. 2 seat.
The singles matches took four wins. The No. 1 seat Simon Unger beat his opponent Charles Norman 6-0, 6-3. Oliver Good in the No. 2 spot beat Nate Gross, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. The No. 3 singles player David Hintze also defeated his opponent Dan Buckingham, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. And the Cats had another win at the No. 5 seat. Caio Poitena beat Austin Miller, 3-6, 6-3, 12-10.
Burnham said he was happy with the way the team played and felt they bounced back well from the losses against the University of Utah and Utah State University earlier this season.
“Overall the team played smart,” Burnham said. “They figured a lot of things out, and they picked themselves back up. I said we need some energy boys. We need to pick it up this match, stop getting down on yourself.”
The doubles team of Simon Unger and Oliver Good are nationally ranked. Burnham said it means a lot to have players nationally ranked.
“It is really neat to have our school’s name right up there with Stanford and UCLA,” Burnham said.
Unger and Good are nationally ranked at number 43.
Good said he doesn’t worry too much about the ranking but tries to focus on the next match.
“In my opinion,” Good said, “it’s not that important to be nationally ranked. Winning matches is what counts. That is what helps us get to the conference finals.”
Unger said that being nationally ranked feels good, but it isn’t his main focus either.
“It is a great feeling,” Unger said, “because of the hard work that it took to get there, but we don’t just want to defend our ranking. Overall we want to improve our skills and continue winning matches for our team.”
The team’s next match isn’t for another three weeks against University of California Davis. Good said the team will use the off time to train and make sure they are ready for the match against UC Davis.
“We have a bit till our next match,” Good said, “so we will be doing a lot of fitness and improving as much as we can until then.”
