BOZEMAN, MT– The Idaho State women's tennis team went on the road to Bozeman, Montana to face Montana State University for their regular-season finale. The Bengals took it to the Bobcats as they came out victorious 5-2, moving to 10-8 on the season and 5-3 in conference play, clinching the 4
th seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament with the win.
In the Bengals match Saturday morning with the Bobcats, Idaho State started the match off on fire as they swept the doubles matches behind some superb play from every team member. In the No. 1 doubles match
Lola O'Lideadha and
Sol O'Lideadha dominated as they won 6-2, in the No. 2 doubles match we saw more of the same from
Hana Cho and
Leah Kuruvilla as they also put on a clinic, winning 6-2. In the No. 3 doubles match
Megan Lang-Gould and
Sydney Morris held strong and completed the doubles matches sweep for the Bengals, winning 6-4. Heading into the singles matches up 1-0 the Bengals looked to keep the same energy and the twins did just that.
Lola O'Lideadha took her matchup to school in the No. 2 singles match, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, and
Sol O'Lideadha downed her Bobcat opponent in the No. 3 singles match in a come from behind three set victory, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Idaho State needed just one more singles match victory to clinch the win, but could not manage to snag a victory in their No. 1 or No. 4 singles matches, and their lead dwindled down to just 3-2 with just the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches left to play. Per usual
Stefanya Shalakhova came through in the clutch for Idaho State as she calmly and swiftly finished off her opponent in the No. 5 singles in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, and clinched the win for the Bengals as they now led 4-2 in the team score. In the No. 6 singles match
Leah Kuruvilla proved she wanted the win more as she refused to lose, winning in three sets, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 10-3. The Bengals went on to win the match 5-2.
The Bengals will be going to Phoenix, Arizona for the Big Sky Conference tournament where they will be the 4
th seed taking on the 5
th seeded Sacramento State Hornets on Friday April 27
th at 9 AM MT.
