PHOENIX, Arizona– The Bengals men's tennis team entered the semi-final round of the Big Sky Conference tournament as the 3 seed taking on 2
nd seeded Sacramento State. The Hornets defeated the Bengals 5-2 in the matchup earlier this season.
Beginning in the doubles matches, the first duo for ISU, playing in the #2 doubles spot, was
Andreas Kramer and
Wikus Robbertse, where the Bengal duo would defeat Novak/Rand, 6-2. In the #1 doubles match
Victor Sklenka and
Valentino De Pellegrin were unable to get it done, falling to Keki/Voros 4-6. With the doubles point all coming down to the #3 doubles match,
Ege Cankus and
Hiroki Fujita would be unable to come through in the clutch, falling to Silva/Chodur 4-6, giving the Hornets a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
With singles underway, the Bengals were looking to make a comeback, however, things did not look great early for Idaho State, losing two of the first three singles matches.
Wikus Robbertse would earn his Big Sky leading 19
th singles win on the season, defeating H. Rand 6-0, 6-1 in the #6 singles match, but
Valentino De Pellegrin would fall to Big Sky MVP, M. Keki 4-6, 3-6 in the #1 singles match, followed by
Victor Sklenka losing in the #3 singles match to J. Silva 1-6, 3-6. With their backs against the wall, down 1-3, the Bengals could not afford to lose another match.
Hiroki Fujita was the next Bengal up, and he would deliver, winning the #5 singles match 6-2, 6-3, over R. Aksenoks to inch Idaho State closer to the comeback, 2-3. The next singles match to finish was the #2 singles match where
Andreas Kramer would just fall to M. Voros, 4-6, 4-6, allowing Sacramento State to clinch the team win, 4-2, over Idaho State.
Head coach Oliver Good shared these remarks on the team's performance today and throughout the season, "The guys fought hard as always today but credit to Sac State for playing some quality tennis.
I'm very proud of our group for the way they competed and supported one another all the way until the end.
Thank you to the seniors finishing up that have contributed so much to our program, and our whole team in general. They are a special group and have set the standard for us of what it means to be a Bengal."
The Hornets advance to the championship round where they will take on #1 Northern Arizona University, Saturday morning.
