Feb. 9, 2010
Final Stats
Box Score: Weber State 5, Idaho State 2 
Pocatello, ID - Freshmen Nate Gross and Colton Pate stepped up for the Bengals as Gross swept doubles and singles while C. Pate captured a singles victory in Idaho State's 5-2 loss to Weber State at Reed Gym Tuesday afternoon. With the victories from Gross and Pate the Bengals swept the No. 5 and 6 positions for the first time since 2007. Weber State improved to a 2-4 record in the non-conference match up, while the Bengals fell to 0-3 for the season.
Freshman Gross, from Sebastopol, Calif., improved to a winning 2-1 record at the No. 5 singles spot; he is the only Bengal to currently hold a winning record. Gross defeated Dave Hintze 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 10-6 and was the last match off the courts. The freshman never trailed but the first point in the super ten-point tiebreaker.
C. Pate captured his first victory of the regular season defeating Cole Paterson 6-3, 0-6, 10-6 at the No. 6 spot. The freshman took a quick 5-2 lead before closing out the set on serve. Paterson swept through the second set as C. Pate got tight and made errors. The freshman dug deep and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set tiebreaker where he would never trail on his way to victory.
"They both had strong first sets, then Weber changed their games and our guys let up mentally," said Head Coach Bobby Goeltz of C. Pate and Gross' matches. "They are young. Let me just say, when is the last time we swept the 5 and 6 spots? We have a complete line-up, a young complete line up, but one where we can be competitive. We haven't had that in a long time."
The last time Idaho State won at the No. 5 and 6 positions was on February 9, 2007 when the Bengals defeated South Dakota State at Air Force 7-0, sweeping every match that day.
Idaho State dropped two of its three doubles matches to start the contest down 0-1. Freshman Gross and sophomore Dan Buckingham captured an 8-7 (7-5) victory over Paterson and Hintze at the No. 3 doubles position to post Idaho State's first doubles victory this season.
The Bengals advanced to a 7-5 lead from Gross' service, but the Wildcats would fight back going up a break as Hintze held service and the Wildcats broke Buckingham to send the match into a tie breaker. ISU was down 4-2 before posting a 5-1 run to close the set that included a Buckingham down the line winner.
"They are starting to make the connection in doubles, getting into it mentally," said Goeltz. "They aren't thinking they have to play doubles, but that they want to play."
Senior Javier Royo had a competitive match at the No. 1 position falling 7-5, 6-4 to Simon Unger. Royo held a 4-3 lead before Unger overcame him. At the No. 2, 3 and 4 positions Idaho State and the Wildcats had matching scores as the Bengals fell 6-4, 6-1 in all three contests. Junior Danel Barrenechea fell to Henning Hipp at the No. 2 spot. Sophomore Dakota Pate fell to Sascha Kiehne at the No. 3 spot. Kiehne played the No. 1 position for the Wildcats the previous year.
Sophomore Buckingham was down 4-0 before he spurted a 4-0 run to tie the score. He would be overcome by Spencer Marchant 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 4 position.
In doubles the Pate's fell to Hipp and Marchant 8-4 at the No. 2 position while Royo and Barrenechea were overcome 8-3 by Unger and Kiehne at the No. 1 spot.
The Bengals will travel to Salt Lake City on Saturday, February 13 for its next dual match against Utah at 5 p.m.
Weber State 5, Idaho State 2
Singles competition
1. UNGER, Simon (WSU) def. ROYO,Javier (ISU) 7-5, 6-4
2. HIPP, Henning (WSU) def. BARRENECHEA,Danel (ISU) 6-4, 6-1
3. KIEHNE, Sascha (WSU) def. PATE,Dakota (ISU) 6-4, 6-1
4. MARCHANT, Spencer (WSU) def. BUCKINGHAM,Dan (ISU) 6-4, 6-1
5. GROSS,Nate (ISU) def. HINTZE, Dave (WSU) 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 10-6
6. PATE,Colton (ISU) def. PATERSON, Cole (WSU) 6-3, 0-6, 10-6
Doubles competition
1. UNGER, Simon/KIEHNE, Sascha (WSU) def. ROYO,Javier/BARRENECHEA,Danel (ISU) 8-3
2. HIPP, Henning/MARCHANT, Spencer (WSU) def. PATE,Dakota/PATE,Colton (ISU) 8-4
3. BUCKINGHAM,Dan/GROSS,Nate (ISU) def. PATERSON, Cole/HINTZE, Dave (WSU) 8-7 (7-5)
