SAN FRANCISCO, California – The Bengals women's tennis team finished off their three-match road trip, facing off against Sacramento State and the University of San Francisco.
In the Bengals match vs Sacramento State the doubles matches point went to the Hornets after
Hana Cho and
Megan Lang-Gould fell in the #3 doubles match, 3-6, and
Stefanya Shalakhova and
Asem Shoybek fell 3-6 in the #2 doubles match.
In singles play three Bengals would fall in straight sets, and two in three sets.
Hana Cho (#1),
Lola O'Lideadha (#2), and
Stefanya Shalakhova (#5) would all fall in straight sets, while
Asem Shoybek in the #3 singles match and
Sol O'Lideadha in the #4 singles match would both fall in three sets to their Hornet opponents. The lone Bengal to pick up a win was
Megan Lang-Gould, who would defeat her Hornet matchup in the #6 singles match 6-1, 6-3. Following the conclusion of the match the Hornets would go on to defeat the Bengals by a final score of 6-1.
The following day the Bengals were right back at it, as they traveled to take on the San Francisco Dons.
In doubles play versus USF, Idaho State's Lola and
Sol O'Lideadha would be unable to begin the day with a win, falling in the #1 doubles match 0-6, however,
Asem Shoybek and
Stefanya Shalakhova would not face the same fate. Shoybek and Shalakhova would go on to down their opponents 6-4 and spark a huge comeback for ISU. In the #3 doubles match
Olivia Mikkelson and
Sydney Morris would be battling for the doubles point and come away on top, downing their opponents 6-4 to give Idaho State the doubles team point.
The first two singles matches to wrap up were
Megan Lang-Gould in the #6 and
Stefanya Shalakhova in the #5 singles matches. Lang-Gould would continue her hot-streak as of late, downing Q. Qiu 6-4, 6-0, and Shalakhova defeating A. Yue 6-4, 6-3, giving the Bengals a 3-0 lead and needing just one more victory in singles play to clinch the match win. In the #3 singles match
Asem Shoybek could not close it out, losing to E. Richardson 1-6, 3-6. However, in the #2 singles match
Lola O'Lideadha closed H. Gamracy in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, to secure the team win for Idaho State. In the final two singles matches
Hana Cho would fall to K. Filip in the #1 match, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, and
Sol O'Lideadha would get the win in the #4 singles match over USF's A. Hayes, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
Following the loss to Sacramento State and the win over San Francisco the Bengals' record moves to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Head Coach
Gretchen Maloney shared her thoughts on the team's play this week, "In our match against Sacramento State it took us a while to get acclimated and we struggled feeling comfortable. In San Francisco we started playing how we wanted and pulled out some tough matches to get the win."
Idaho State will return home to Reed Gym on March 29
th and 30
th as they host Montana State and Weber State for Big Sky play.
