BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho men's tennis team is off to its best start in history after improving to 11-2 this season by beating a pair of nationally ranked teams over the weekend. The Vandals traveled to Boise, Idaho and came away with wins over No. 59 Boise State and No. 62 San Francisco.

“Both were pretty big wins,” Idaho head coach Jeff Beaman said. “Beating Boise State on the road and San Francisco, a nationally ranked program, at a neutral site should put us back in the national rankings.”

Idaho's 11-2 record tops the best 13-match start in program history, which was 10-3 before this season. Idaho is now 1-0 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Vandals had a month off since their last competition.

“I think the time off definitely helped us work on some things and get healthy,” Beaman said. “I was really impressed the way the guys were able to step up and compete, because being match-tough is something you can lose if you don't compete, even for a week. The team did a great job of showing up and performing at a high level under extreme pressure whether they were winning or losing.”

Against BSU, Idaho took the doubles point with wins from Marius Cirstea and Alex Joitou at the No. 1 spot and Jose Bendeck and Lachlan Reed at No. 2. Abid Akbar and Jake Knox fell at No. 3 doubles for the Vandals.

Lachlan Reed beat BSU's Filipp Pogostkin 6-3: 6-3 at No. 2 singles for the Vandals, and Jose Bendeck picked up a 3-6; 6-4; 6-4 win at No. 5 and Alan Shin won 2-6; 6-4; 6-2 at No. 6 to clinch the 4-3 Vandal victory.

In Idaho's match against San Francisco, the Vandals once again secured the doubles point with wins at the top two doubles positions. Idaho got three-set wins at the top two singes spots from Cirstea and Reed, while Bendeck and Shin wrapped up the 5-2 win with victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles.

The Vandals will return to Boise to take on Wichita State on March 24 before competing in the BSU Spring Tournament March 25^th and 26^th. Idaho will then come home for its only four home matches of the season, as it hosts WAC opponents Utah State, Fresno State and Hawai`i on April 8, 9 and 10, and hosts Gonzaga on April 13.

March, 19, 2011
University of Idaho 4, #59 Boise State 3
Boise, Idaho

Singles

No. 1 #89 Damian Hume (BSU) def. #112 Marius Cirstea (Idaho), 6-3; 6-2
No. 2 Lachlan Reed (Idaho) def. Filipp Pogostkin (BSU), 6-3; 6-3
No. 3 Scott Sears (BSU) def. Alex Joitoiu (Idaho), 7-6; 1-6, 7-6 (8-6)
No. 4 Andrew Bettles (BSU) def. Abid Akbar (Idaho), 6-2; 6-2
No. 5 Jose Bendeck (Idaho) def. Jeff Mullen (BSU), 3-6; 6-4 6-4
No. 6 Alan Shin (Idaho) def. Nathan Sereke (BSU) 2-6; 6-4; 6-2

Doubles
No. 1 Cirstea/Joitoiu (Idaho) def. #75 Sears/Hume (BSU), 9-8 (7-5)
No. 2 Bendeck/Reed (Idaho) def. Mullen/Sheldon (BSU), 8-6
No. 3 Bettles/Pogostkin (BSU) def. Akbar/Knox (Idaho), 8-3

March 20, 2011
Idaho 5, #62 San Francisco 2
Boise, Idaho

Singles
No. 1 #112 Marius Cirstea (Idaho) def. Ola Bakke (USF), 6-4; 2-6; 7-6 (6)
No. 2 Lachlan Reed (Idaho) def. Mark DeCastro (USF), 6-4; 4-6; 6-3
No. 3 Richard Bucalem (USF) def. Alex Joitoiu (Idaho), 7-5; 6-1
No. 4 Jacob Hartwig (USF) def. Abid Akbar (Idaho), 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-0
No. 5 Jose Bendeck (Idaho) def. Germain Bahri (USF), 6-0; 6-0
No. 6 Alan Shin (Idaho) def. Alex Kotlyar (USF) 6-3; 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 Cirstea/Joitoiu (Idaho) def. Schumacher/Bahri (USF), 5-2 ret
No. 2 Bendeck/Reed (Idaho) def. DeCastro/Bucalem (USF) 9-7
No. 3 Bakke/Hartwig (USF) def. Akbar/Knox (Idaho) 8-2