POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State men's tennis team opened conference play with a commanding 5-2 victory over Northern Colorado inside Reed Gym Saturday afternoon.
"Overall we had a solid performance today to open conference play with a win against a very strong UNC team," said Head Coach
Mark Rodel. "We were able to clinch the doubles point with a strong performance by
Gary Rendek and
David Felix at No. 2 and were able to do just enough to win at No. 1 to clinch the point."
The Bears opened doubles competition with a 6-3 win at the No. 3 court but the Bengals rallied back with wins in the next two matches. Felix and Rendek easily topped their opponents 6-3 at No. 2 doubles. Then,
Peter Trhac and
Fynn Lohse won a tough doubles match on the premiere court with a 7-5 win over UNC's Nike Wade and Julian Kenzlers.
Idaho State sealed the victory just three matches into singles play. Trhac topped his counterpart 6-0 in the first set before his opponent retired. Felix followed with a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory at No. 2 singles.
It was
Lukas Ridemar who clinched the match for Idaho State. He topped his competitor 6-4 in the first set before working his way into a 6-6 tie in the second. He prevailed in the tiebreak with a 7-5 win to claim the match in straight sets.
"We started off the singles with great intensity, winning the first set on courts 1-4," Rodel said. "However, we backed off a little and allowed UNC back into the match. It ended up being a really tight match on each court. It came down to quite a battle at courts three and four where freshman
Lukas Ridemar was able to secure the fourth point for us and the win."
Northern Colorado stole the next two points away in three-set contests. Lohse took the first match off his opponent before dropping two tight sets.
Gary Rendek forced a tiebreaker after losing the first set 6-3 and winning the second 6-4. He narrowly lost the tiebreak 10-5.
Francis Filipovich collected ISU's final point to put an exclamation point on the conference opener. He claimed the first set 6-3 before being shutout in the second. The senior remained poised and battled back with a 10-4 win in the deciding tiebreaker.
The Bengals are now 3-5 this season after playing a difficult nonconference schedule. Today's win makes them 1-0 against Big Sky opponents. Idaho State hosts another match tomorrow afternoon, hosting the Eastern Washington Eagles in Reed Gym tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
"Overall I'm very pleased and now it's just a matter of regrouping and fine tuning a few things in doubles," Rodel said. We also will focus on really going back to our game plans and doing our best to follow them from start to finish."
Idaho State 5, Northern Colorado 2
Singles competition
1. TRHAC, Peter (ISU) def. Kyle Pease (UNC) 6-0, retired
2. FELIX, David (ISU) def. Julian Kenzlers (UNC) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)
3. Adolfo Arroyo (UNC) def. LOHSE, Fynn (ISU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. RIDEMAR, Lukas (ISU) def. Nick Wade (UNC) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Alex Exsted (UNC) def. RENDEK, Gary (ISU) 6-3, 4-6, 10-5
6. FILIPOVICH, Francis (ISU) def. Tommy Smalley (UNC) 6-3, 0-6, 10-4
Doubles competition
1. TRHAC, Peter/LOHSE, Fynn (ISU) def. Nick Wade/Julian Kenzlers (UNC) 7-5
2. FELIX, David/RENDEK, Gary (ISU) def. Michael Kritzinger/Adolfo Arroyo (UNC) 6-3
3. Tommy Smalley/Alex Exsted (UNC) def. RIDEMAR, Lukas/FILIPOVICH, Francis (ISU) 6-3
Match Notes:
Northern Colorado 5-5, 1-2 BSC
Idaho State 3-5, 1-0 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,4,3,5,6)
T-3:42
