Live Stats | Tournament Central
POCATELLO, Idaho – After a one-year hiatus, the Idaho State men's tennis team is returning to the Big Sky Conference Championship. The Bengals secured the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 Sacramento State in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. (MT) Thursday morning.
The three-day championship will be held at the Phoenix Tennis Center in Arizona's capital. The winner of Saturday's championship match will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Series History
Overall: SAC leads 14-2 (Since 2002-03 Season) | Neutral/Big Sky Tournament: 1-2 | Streak: SAC W6 | Last Meeting: April 14, 2019 - SAC won 6-1
The Bengals and Hornets recently met with the SAC taking a 6-1 win in the Golden State. Idaho State won the doubles point but was swept in a series of close singles matches. This time around, ISU hopes to be on the other end of those tight decisions.
This will be the third meeting for these two teams in the conference tournament. Sacramento State topped Idaho State in 1999 and 2003 to win Big Sky Titles. The Bengals won the most recent matchup with a 4-3 win in the semifinals in 2004.
Big Sky Conference Tournament History
This is the 17th conference tournament appearance for Idaho State since the Big Sky switched to a tournament format in 1993. The Bengals will attempt to be the first ISU team to win a game in the postseason since the 2005-06 squad defeated Eastern Washington in the first round. The Bengals are 7-6 in the opening round of the tournament.
A Welcome Surprise
Idaho State had an opportunity to clinch a spot outright last week before falling to Portland State. The team was disappointed they let the decision rest in another team's hands, unsure they would prevail in a tiebreaker for the final seed. But even as Montana and Southern Utah played out the final match of the season,
Lukas Ridemar continued to hold hope.
"Montana won and we thought we were out," Ridemar said. "I was refreshing the Big Sky standings page every minute for about two hours. Suddenly it said that we clinched, and I was so surprised."
This will be the first BSC tournament appearance for every player on ISU's roster except
Francis Filipovich. The senior competed in the conference championship in 2017 as a sophomore.
"I think we're all very pumped for this opportunity," Ridemar said. "Everyone is excited and feels like we can actually win. We're the underdogs because we're the sixth seed, the last seed, so we have nothing to lose at all, and that should make us looser. Everyone is going to fight as hard as possible because this is the end of the season."
