POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State men's tennis team dropped its match against Portland State 5-2 Friday evening at Capell Park. The loss places the fate of ISU's postseason chances in the hands of Southern Utah.
"Today was a bittersweet day saying goodbye to three seniors," said Head Coach
Mark Rodel. "The guys came out and once again executed perfectly in doubles which makes us 15 for19 on doubles points won on the year. Unfortunately, we couldn't reproduce the same quality of play that we did in doubles all year in singles. Hats off to Portland State for coming out and playing incredible tennis."
A win from Southern Utah over Montana on Sunday would help Idaho State finish with the No. 5 seed for the conference tournament. A loss would place ISU seventh in the league standings, just outside of the playoff picture.
"Now it's just a waiting game to see where we end up in the Big Sky Conference," Rodel said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
The Bengals started strong in doubles play.
Francis Filipovich and
Lukas Ridemar made quick work of their opponents in a 6-1 win at No. 3. The Vikings responded with a 6-4 win at No. 1, putting the pressure on
David Felix and
Gary Rendek at court No. 2.
The doubles point looked as though it would go to PSU with the Vikings leading 4-1 at one point in the match. However, ISU's duo battled back to tie the match at 5-5. Portland State reclaimed the lead the following game before Felix and Rendek forced a tiebreak. The ISU partnership dominated the tiebreak and clinched the point with a 7-6 (3) victory.
Despite the momentum swing, Portland State won the first four singles matches to clinch the match.
Fynn Lohse took the lone win for ISU at court No. 4. The freshman battled back from a deficit to earn the victory 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Ridemar and
Peter Trhac both played three-set matches at No. 3 and No. 2 respectively. Ridemar came out swinging and won the first set before falling 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Trhac narrowly lost the first set in a tiebreak before grinding out a win in the second. With the match decided, the two competitors played a super-tiebreak in lieu of a third set. Trhac was just edged 7-6 (7), 4-6, 10-8.
Before the start of singles play, Idaho State recognized its three seniors, Trhac, Filipovich and Felix. The trio will be headed to the conference tournament if Southern Utah prevails Sunday afternoon.
"I'm proud of the guys," Rodel said. "I'm proud of the way we've come out and competed and how they've bought into what we're doing. We are a much improved team over last year."
