Box Score
POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State men's tennis team defeated Big Sky Defending Champion Sacramento State 4-3 Sunday afternoon. It is the first time that ISU has defeated the Hornets since 2004 and is just the second win over Sacramento State in program history.
Sacramento State men's program has traditionally been a Big Sky powerhouse, winning the last four Big Sky Championships and winning six titles in the last 10 years. The Hornets had won eight straight against the Bengals until this afternoon. ISU's only win against SAC was in a 4-3 decision at the 2004 Big Sky Championship semifinals. ISU went on to face Montana State in the final and lost 4-3.
The Bengals jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the Hornets Sunday, winning the doubles point. Seniors
Charles Norman and
Nate Gross defeated Sacramento State's No. 80 ranked duo of Aliaksandr Malko and Marek Marksoo 9-7 while sophomores
Krzysztof Stempien and
Andres Coello downed Henrik Raag and Tom Miller 8-3.
Norman went on to win the No. 2 singles over Malko 6-4, 6-4 and with Sacramento State winning the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles, the fate of the match came down to freshman
Jamey Swiggart and sophomore
Austin Miller.
“Charles probably played the best match I have ever seen him play,” ISU Head Coach
Bobby Goeltz said. “Then the match came down to a freshman and sophomore in a very high pressure situation. Both of them played very well, especially under the circumstances. I think this team is beginning to realize its potential. This team has the talent and is proving that not only does it want to win, it can win. We just have to keep taking it one match at a time.”
Swiggart defeated Niranjan Ram 6-1 in the first set and narrowly won the second set 7-6.
Miller took his match to three sets. He defeated T. Miller 6-4 in the first set and dropped the second 6-3. He came back to win the third 6-3.
The Bengals improve to 5-2 overall and are still undefeated in Big Sky action with a 4-0 league record. Montana and Idaho State remain the only two teams left in the Big Sky with perfect conference records.
The Bengals travel to Las Vegas, Nev., next week for the Las Vegas Tournament. There ISU faces Southern Utah, Western New Mexico, Nevada and Youngstown State. ISU's next conference match-up is against Southern Utah on March 28.
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