By Israel Archie – Spear Reporter
Irena Muradyan hugging a family member after winning her singles victory in two sets. I Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State tennis (13-6, 4-4 MW) was able to bounce back Sunday in a 4-0 sweep against Utah State (4-15, 1-8 MW).
However the score did not reflect the difficulty of the match. The Spartans played with extra motivation for senior night and fought even harder for this victory, especially in doubles play evidenced by comebacks and close wins.
The Spartans managed to secure the doubles point thanks to an amazing comeback from senior Rozalina Youseva and freshman Duru Durgun winning 7-5.
The other doubles win came from seniors Carolina Millan and Jovana Babic who also won 7-5 in an intense back-and-forth against Lisa Kung and freshman Ana Paula Chavez Sanchez
“Everybody was playing for everybody today,” SJSU head coach Chad Skorupka said. “We have had some close battles in the last couple of matches and we did not want to go through that again.”
Senior Irena Muradyan had a great performance in singles play winning two straight sets both 6-2 against Kung.
She secured the first singles point for the Spartans after struggling a little in doubles play where she and freshman Cheuk Ying Shek allowed the Aggies to come back and win 7-5.
“I was feeling really emotional and thought to myself that this was my last match,” Muradyan said. “It really helped me bounce back.”
Because this match was also the senior’s last home game, a few of the players will be graduating and moving on to new endeavors.
“I was trying to enjoy every second and I really did not want this fairytale to end,” Muradyan said. Her family cheered her on with a big sign saying “LET’S GO IRENA” in dark bold purple.
Muradyan said that she felt proud having that Armenian power behind her and that it gave her the power to finish the match strong.
With this victory, the Spartans are scheduled to close out the regular season playing Fresno State at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Fresno, Calif.
