Men's Tennis Falls to Northern Arizona

Final Results

POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State men's tennis team fell to visiting Northern Arizona 5-2 Saturday afternoon at Reed Gym. The Bengals dropped the critical doubles point early in the match and were unable to gain an advantage in singles play in the 5-2 loss.

"I"m very proud of the team's effort today," Head Coach Mark Rodel said. "They came out competitive and lost to a very good NAU team today. Every time they step foot on the court they are delivering what I expect from them; I expect competitiveness from start to finish regardless of the team we are playing."

In doubles play, ISU's Francis Filipovich and Haseeb Khan fell 6-1 to NAU's Jacson Lee and Felix Schumann. Idaho State (4-8, 2-3 BSC) tied up doubles play following Sebastian Edin and Bjorn Scheepbouwer's 6-2 rout of Northern Arizona's (6-9, 3-2 BSC) Tim Handel and Ruben Montana at the No. 1 doubles position. However, NAU claimed the final doubles match ultimately the crucial doubles point as Josh Goodwin and William Edin fell to NAU's Lucas Taylor and Adi Zilberstein following an intense 7-5 battle.

With the loss of the doubles point, ISU faced an uphill battle in singles play. The Bengals started hot as William Edin dominated the first set 6-0 at the No. 2 singles position, but Edin suffered a minor injury in the second set to force early match retirement to give NAU the win. ISU suffered a 6-2, 6-1 loss at the No. 3 singles position to give NAU a 3-0 advantage overall.

Filipovich earned the Bengals their first singles win of the day with a 6-2, 6-2 win over NAU's Ruben Montano at the No. 4 singles position, but NAU claimed the next singles victory  6-2, 6-4 at the No. 1 position as Sebastian Edin fell to NAU's Tim Handel.

NAU and ISU split the final two singles matches as the Lumberjacks claimed the 6-4, 6-0 win at the No. 5 singles position and the Bengals' Khan earned the 7-5, 6-3 win at the No. 6 position to give NAU the 5-2 match win.

"Francis and Haseeb came out really strong for us today," Rodel said. "Both played exceptionally well."

The Bengals hit the road for their next match at Southern Utah on March 22 at 11 a.m. in Cedar City, Utah.