Jan. 31, 2014

Box Score

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's tennis, led by comeback performances from freshmen Dennis Baumgartner and Sebastian Schneider, defeated the Montana Grizzlies 5-2 Friday to get back in the win column after losing its previous two matches.

The Aggies swept doubles play, starting when Schneider and junior Matt Sweet defeated Mikolaj Caruk and Tomasz Soltyka, 6-3. Then, the duo of junior Sean Levesque and senior Andrew Whiting finished off Ethan Vaughn and Zach Drost, 6-2. Even though the Aggies already earned the doubles point by winning two of the three matches, the teams finished out doubles play and Baumgartner and junior Marcus Fritz defeated Andrew Warren and Semion Branzburg, 6-3.

With the Aggies up 1-0 in the dual match, the teams took to singles, where Levesque was defeated by Branzburg, 6-2, 6-1. Then, Fritz won his match in straight sets over Soltyka, 6-4, 6-3.

Montana's Warren evened up the dual match score at 2-2 when he defeated Sweet in a three-set thriller, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Then, in the most back-and-forth match of the day, Baumgartner fended off four match points in the third set to force a tie break. After an ace, Baumgartner hit a winner down the line to win the match, 3-6, 6-5, 6-5, and give the Aggies the pivotal 3-2 lead.

Whiting gave Utah State the dual-match winning fourth point after putting on a dominating display by beating Peter Mimnagh-Fleming, 6-0, 6-2. The two teams decided to finish off the last match, where Schneider fought off six match points to win in the third set, 3-6, 6-5, 10-3. The Aggies are back in action this Sunday, Feb. 2 as they host the Montana State Bobcats at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club at 11 a.m.

Fans can follow Utah State Athletics, including both USU tennis teams, at http://twitter.com/USUMensTennis or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/UtahStateMensTennis.

RESULTS:Montana at Utah State Men's TennisMontana 2 - Utah State 5Singles
Dennis Baumgartner (USU) def. Mikolaj Caruk (UM) 3-6, 6-5, 6-5Marcus Fritz (USU) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) 6-4, 6-3Andrew Warren (UM) def. Matt Sweet (USU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2Semion Branzburg (UM) def. Sean Levesque (USU) 6-2, 6-1Sebastian Schneider (USU) def. Ethan Vaughn (UM) 3-6, 6-5, 10-3Andrew Whiting (USU) def. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
Fritz/Baumgartner (USU) def. Warren/Branzburg (UM) 6-3Sweet/Schneider (USU) def. Caruk/Soltyka (UM) 6-3Levesque/Whiting (USU) def. Vaughn/Drost (UM) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles: (3,1,2); Singles (4,2,3,1,6,5)