LOGAN, Utah – Utah State's women's tennis team looks to remain perfect when the Aggies host in-state rival BYU on Friday, Feb. 14. The Valentine's Day dual, which is slated to begin at 11 a.m., will take place at the Sports Academy & Racquet Club (SARC). Admission is free.
"BYU is a great program," said seventh-year Utah State head coach Sean McInerney. "We are very excited to have the opportunity to compete against them. It is going to be a great match with two very even teams that have a lot of pride on the line. Any time we get them in Logan, Utah, we are very excited for the opportunity to play them."
A live video feed of each court will be provided and live results will be available online at utahstateaggies.com, and the team's social media pages.
"We just have to stay tough," said USU freshman Zara Ryan, who is 3-0 in singles play and 3-0 in doubles play. "Personally, I have never played BYU before, but I know they are a great team."
The Aggies are 3-0 after defeating UTEP 6-1 last Sunday at the SARC, but McInerney knows his team still has plenty of room for improvement.
"It's not hard to get them motivated to play an in-state rival, but we need to tighten up some of our patterns and some of our choices," the veteran coach said. "We are going to continue to work on doubles. We have a young roster, so we don't have tons of experience with that. Moving forward against the upper-level competition, we are really going to need to improve some of our doubles play, particularly our returns and net aggression, but we'll be fine."
Besides Ryan, two more Aggies are a perfect 3-0 in singles play in sophomore Annaliese County and freshman Carolina Milan. County and Ryan are 2-0 in doubles play.
BYU (3-2) opened the season with three straight wins, but have lost back-to-back matches to Washington State (5-2) and Fresno State (4-3), respectively.
The Cougars have taken the doubles point in each of their five matches this season. Madeline Almeida, Emilee Astle, Leah Heimuli and Katie Cusick Truman are all 3-2 in singles play for BYU. Astle is a perfect 5-0 in doubles play, while Almeida and Helen Jiao are both 4-1.
BYU leads the all-time series with Utah State 9-1, and has won three straight over the Aggies, including a 6-1 win last year in Provo.
Following Friday's match, Utah State will conclude its five-match homestand on Sunday, Feb. 16, when the Aggies host Northern Arizona (0-2) in another dual match at 11 a.m.
Fans can follow USU's women's tennis team on Twitter @USUWomensTennis, on Facebook at /UtahStateWomensTennis or on Instagram at USUWomensTennis. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter, @USUAthletics, Facebook at /USUAthletics and on Instagram, @USUAthletics.
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