BOISE, Idaho The No. 19 Boise State University men’s tennis team defeated No. 73 Utah, 7-0, at the Boas Tennis and Soccer Complex, Friday.

The Broncos improved to 3-0 at home and 10-4 overall, in their first home match clinching the ITA Mountain Region Team Playoff on Jan. 20.

“It was great to come home after being the villain on the road for the past five weeks,” said head coach Greg Patton. “It is just like Dorothy said there is no place like home.’ Our guys really fed off the crowd by stepping up and responding like heroes.” 

Boise State began the match by taking two of three doubles matches to capture the elusive doubles point.

At No. 1 doubles, Piotr Dilaj and Luke Shields knocked off Zach Ganger and Miron Mann, 8-5. Blake Boswell and Eric Roberson had their serve broke at 1-2 and could not recover as they dropped the match, 8-4, to Jason Smits and Othman Zerouali-Ouariti. The Broncos then turned to their newly assembled doubles team of Steve Robertson and Stanley Sarapanich who responded valiantly with an 8-5, victory over Timmy Allin and Wes Hancock.

The Broncos then captured all six singles points for the first time this season.

No. 7 Luke Shields defeated No. 50 Ganger in straight sets, 6-3 and 7-6, to get things rolling for Boise State.

Playing at the No. 2 position for the first time, Boswell raised his game to the next level and vanquished Mann, 7-6 and 7-6.

Roberson posted the match clinching point for the Broncos as he defeated Smits, 7-6 and 6-2. The win snapped an eight-match singles losing streak for Roberson.

After dropping the first set 4-6, Dilaj would not be denied the victory, as he stormed back to capture the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6, and drop Hancock in a super tiebreaker in the third set 10-4, to earn the fifth match point for Boise State. 

Robertson, playing in the fifth position, needed three sets but he prevailed over Zerouali-Ouariti, 6-1, 6-7 and 6-2.

Brent Werbeck wrapped up the match for Boise State as he handled Allin, 4-6, 6-2 and 10-5.

The Broncos will continue their schedule Mar. 3 at 1:30 p.m. when they take on Penn at the Boas Tennis and Soccer Complex at Boise, Idaho.

Results

Boise State 7, Utah 0

Doubles (1, 2, 3)

Dilaj/L. Shields d. Ganger/Mann, 8-5

Smits/Zerouali-Ouariti d. Boswell/Roberson, 8-4

Sarapanich/Robertson d. Allin/Hancock, 8-5

Singles (1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6)      

1. Luke Shields d. Zach Ganger, 6-3, 7-6

2. Blake Boswell d. Miron Mann, 7-6, 7-6

3. Piotr Dilaj d. Wes Hancock, 4-6, 7-6, 10-4

4. Eric Roberson d. Jason Smits, 7-6, 6-2

5. Steve Robertson d. Othman Zerouali-Ouariti, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2

6. Brent Werbeck d. Jimmy Allin, 4-6, 6-2, 10-5

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