Broncos Split With Idaho, Utah in First ITA Region Duals of SeasonThe No. 27-ranked Boise State men's tennis team played host to a pair of ITA Mountain Region opponents on Saturday, splitting 1-1 on the day with a win over the University of Idaho and falling in the afternoon to the University of Utah. The Broncos (
BOISE, Idaho The No. 27-ranked BoiseState men’s tennis team played host to a pair of ITA Mountain Region opponents on Saturday, splitting 1-1 on the day with a win over the University of Idaho and falling in the afternoon to the University of Utah. The Broncos (7-5, 1-0 WAC) earned a 5-2 win over the Idaho Vandals (7-5). Earning a 1-1 region record for the season as well this weekend, the Broncos could not hold on for their second match of the day, falling in a nail biter of a match, 4-3, to the Utah Utes (7-4).
In their first match-up of the day, the Broncos fed off their doubles win against the Vandals on Friday night and continued with singles play Saturday morning at the BoasTennisCenter. The Broncos had earned an 8-2 win by Cristian Hodel and Freddy Walsh in the No. 3 doubles match, downing Idaho’s Hugh McDonald and Alan Shin to go up 1-0 in doubles play. Idaho evened the score with an 8-2 win by Stanislav Glukhov and Artem Kuznetsov over Stanley Sarapanich and Erik Sheldon in the No. 2 doubles match. Leaving the No. 1 match to decide the doubles point, Kean Feeder and James Meredith were able to fight off Idaho’s Alexandru Joitoiu and Robert Chalkley for a 9-8 (8-3) win to clinch the doubles point.
In singles action, BoiseState was led by No. 57-ranked Feeder who brought big momentum to the Bronco squad after picking up a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kuznetsov in the No. 1 match. BoiseState’s Sarapanich was able to put the Broncos up 3-0 in the team standings with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Chalkley in the No. 4 match. Freshman Hodel clinched the team title for the Broncos when he downed Joitoiu, 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 3 match. Idaho’s Shin was able to earn one team point with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Matt Solomon. BoiseState’s Walsh rounded out the Broncos’ team points with a 6-2, 6-4 win over McDonald in the No. 6 match while Idaho’s Glukhov was able to earn one more point for the Vandals when he defeated Meredith 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 2 singles match.
Turning around and beginning play just 90-minutes later, the Broncos took on the University of Utah in their second ITA Mountain Region dual of the season.
Looking a bit worn, the Broncos suffered a three-match sweep by the Utes in doubles play, going down 1-0 to Utah. Utah’s John Taylor and Timmy Allin were the first to earn a win, defeating BoiseState’s Solomon and Sarapanich, 8-3, in the No. 2 doubles match. Phillip Eilers and Wes Hancock finished shortly after with an 8-6 win over Feeder and Meredith in the No. 1 match while Benito Suriano and Stephen Jacobs picked up an 8-7 win over Hodel and Walsh in the No. 3 match to sweep the doubles point.
The Utes were able to jump to a 2-0 lead when Allin earned a speedy 6-1, 6-2 victory over BoiseState’s Walsh in the No. 6 singles match. No. 57-ranked Feeder earned the first team point for the Broncos, defeating Hancock, 6-3, 6-3, in the No. 1 singles match. Meredith followed closely behind, downing Othman Zerouali-Ouariti, 7-5, 6-1, in the No. 3 match, tying up the team score at 2-2. A 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 win by No. 62-ranked Clancy Shields in the No. 2 singles match over Eilers put the Broncos up 3-2 in the team running. The Utes answered back, however, with Smits earning a 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory over Sarapanich in the No. 5 singles match.
With the team scores tied at 3-3, the deciding point came down to the third-set tie-break of the No. 4 singles match where Utah’s Taylor was able to outlast Boise State’s Hodel, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3) to clinch the team title.
BoiseState will now prepare to host Texas A&M on Fri., Mar. 6 in a 1 p.m. match at the BoasTennisCenter.