April 13, 2004

LOGAN, Utah - Hungsoon Park and Jason Trask improved their singles records to 3-0 against Idaho State this year, but it wasn't enough as Utah State fell to the Bengals, 4-3, in men's tennis action here Tuesday afternoon. With the loss, USU drops the season series to the Bengals 2-1.

The loss was Utah State's second straight, and drops it to 8-11 on the year, while ISU improved to 9-6.

"It was tough losing the doubles point because we had a hard time gaining the momentum after that," said head coach Chris Wright. "There were a few matches that could have gone either way and we just didn't get the shots we needed."

In USU's loss to ISU in Pocatello earlier this year, the Aggies dropped the doubles point and ended up falling by the exact same 4-3 score. USU looked like it might avoid the same fate in Logan, as Park and Trask defeated the Bengal duo of Stoica/Stavridis, 8-4, to open doubles. But from that point on it was all ISU as they captured the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spots by scores of 8-5 and 8-2.

In singles, Park won his first set 6-4, but struggled early in the second set as he found himself down 3-1. Park would then win five straight sets to oust Hestian Stoica in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Trask improved to 7-3 at the number three singles spot as he made quick work of ISU's Ivan Moferdin, with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set triumph. USU's other singles win came at the hands of Ryan Bair. Bair won his third-consecutive match as he downed Masimba Ruwo, 6-7, 6-4, (10-5).

USU is back in action on Thursday, travelling to Ogden to face the Weber State Wildcats at 2 p.m.

IDAHO STATE 4, UTAH STATE 3DOUBLES:1. Park/Trask (USU) def. Stoica/Stavridis 8-42. Okoh/Moferdin (ISU) def. Schenk/Bouton  8-53. Garces/Pijoan (ISU) def. Bastian/Bair 8-2SINGLES:1. Hungsoon Park (USU) def. Hestian Stoica 6-4, 6-32. Butch Stavridis (ISU) def. Hannes Schenk 6-3, 7-53. Jason Trask (USU) def. Ivan Moferdin 6-1, 6-14. Marc Pijoan (ISU) def. Roshan Rasekhi 6-4, 7-65. Pablo Garces (ISU) def. Tyler Bastian 6-3, 1-6, 6-06. Ryan Bair (USU) def. Masimba Ruwo 6-7, 6-4 (10-5)