BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho State men's tennis team opened their spring slate with three away matches, the first in Las Vegas versus UNLV, and the final two in Boise against Boise State and Lewis-Clark State College.
Idaho State's opening week of play was highlighted by their 7-0 sweep over the LCSC Warriors and their near upset of UNLV which ended in a 3-4 loss. The Bengals final match on the weekend against Boise State also ended in a loss, 1-6.
Beginning in the doubles matches in Bengals match at UNLV, the first duo for ISU, playing in the #1 doubles spot, was
Valentino De Pellegrin and
Victor Sklenka. The Bengal tandem was unable to pick up their first doubles match of the new year, falling to Ornberg/Atherton 4-6. The second Bengals grouping in doubles was
Patrick Kristensen and
Andreas Kramer, who could not get it done, falling to Maksymchuk/Hirano in the #2 doubles match, giving UNLV the doubles team point.
Heading into singles play down 0-1 ISU knew they needed to step up if they wanted to win. In the #1 singles match,
Victor Sklenka fell to A. Ornberg in straight sets 2-6, 4-6, however in the #2 singles match
Valentino De Pellegrin looked to turn the ship around, as he earned the Bengals their first team point of the season with a straight set win over A. Bailey 6-3, 6-4. Andreas Karmer followed up De Pellegrin with a straight set victory of his own in the #3 singles match, defeating D. Rsovac 6-4, 6-4. In the #4 singles spot
Hiroki Fujita could not complete the comeback as he fell in three sets to I. Maksymchuk 0-6, 6-3, 5-7. With just the #5 and #6 singles matches remaining it came down to
Wikus Robbertse and
Ege Cankus. Robbertse in the #5 singles match came through, downing M. Jovenin in three sets after falling in the first 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. In
Ege Cankus' #6 singles match he could not complete the match saving comeback, as he fell in three sets to T. Hirano 3-6, 6-4, 4-6. And the UNLV Runnin' Rebels would survive the Bengals' upset bid, winning 4-3.
The Bengals' match vs Boise State on Saturday was the first match of a doubleheader with BSU and LCSC.
In the doubles matches vs the Broncos the first match to finish was the #2 doubles match where
Patrick Kristensen and Andreas Karmer fell 4-6 to the Boise State duo of Chin/Herzeele. The second match to wrap up was the #3 doubles where
Ege Cankus and
Hiroki Fujita went down to the wire and delivered big time, winning 7-6 (7-5). The team doubles point would all come down to the #1 match, where
Valentino De Pellegrin and
Victor Sklenka would come through in the clutch, downing Sippel/van Assendelft from BSU 7-6 (7-5), earning the Bengals the doubles point to lead 1-0 heading into singles play.
In singles play versus Boise State, Idaho State would look to capitalize on their momentum from the doubles point victory, however, the singles matches would not go the same for ISU.
Ege Cankus,
Wikus Robbertse,
Victor Sklenka, and
Andreas Kramer would all fall in straight sets in singles play.
Valentino De Pellegrin was defeated in the #2 singles spot in three sets by J. van Assendelft 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, and
Hiroki Fujita was downed in the #4 singles match by J. Middleton 6-2, 0-6, 3-6. Idaho State would fall to the Broncos by a final score of 1-6 after getting swept in the singles matches.
In their second match of the day the Bengals would take on the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors. Idaho State would go to work early in this match, sweeping the doubles matches to earn the team doubles point after
Andreas Kramer and
Patrick Kristensen would down Camino/Rusnak in the #1 doubles match 6-0,
Wikus Robbertse and
Victor Sklenka would take care of Tevez/Kikuchi 6-0, and
Ege Cankus and
Hiroki Fujita would win 7-6 over Santos/Sommer in the #3 doubles match.
In the singles matches Idaho State would continue to flex their muscles, with each match ending in a sweep. In the #1 singles position
Victor Sklenka defeated I. Kikuchi 6-1, 6-2, in the #2 singles match
Valentino De Pellegrin won easily against M. Rusnak 6-0, 6-1, and in the #3 singles spot
Andreas Kramer cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over R. Bonnet. In the #4 singles match
Hiroki Fujita defeated A. Camino 6-4, 6-0, in the #5 singles match
Wikus Robbertse earned the 6-1, 6-0 win over D. Tevez, and in the final singles match
Ege Cankus defeated C. Sia 6-2, 6-4.
Head coach Oliver Good shared his thoughts on his team's play from the opening week of the season, "It was great to get some quality competition in this weekend. In all three matches our guys showed great fight, and what we stand for as a team. These busy weekends help prepare us for what it takes at the end of the season, and we'll build off this for our next ones in two weeks."
The Bengals' next match will be at home in Reed Gym for their first home matches of the season as they host Colorado Mesa University and Whitman College on Saturday, February 3
rd.
