LEWISTON, Idaho – The Idaho men's tennis team was victorious at home for the third time this season in a 5-2 win over Montana State Sunday afternoon inside the LCSC Tennis Center.
The Vandals handed Montana State its first conference loss of the season and snapped their three-match win streak.
"I feel like the guys responded after the loss yesterday," Idaho's head coach
Daniel Hangstefer said. "They bounced back. We have talked about being steady all year from match to match. I feel like they did a great job of that from the start in doubles all the way to the very end in singles. We are happy about the win. We are gonna get back to practice and get ready for next week."
Idaho now owns a 3-1 record at home and improved to 7-11 (3-2 BSC) on the season. Montana State slid to 15-7 overall and 5-1 in conference.
In doubles action, freshman
Francisco Gay and sophomore
Mario Duron teamed up for a 6-3 win on court three over Brad Buckland and Marcos Zelver. Sophomores
Francisco Bascon and
Bruno Casino got back to their winning ways over one of the top doubles tandems in the conference. Idaho's duo defeated No. 50 Matej Panik and Jamieson Nathan, 6-3 to claim an early 1-0 lead.
In singles play, sophomore
Matteo Masala cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set win on court four to give the Vandals its second point of the match. The victory for Masala gives him a team-leading 12 singles wins on the season.
Bascon followed quickly after with a win of his own on court one, doing so in dominant fashion. The Spaniard won convincingly 6-2, 6-1 over MSU's Daan Van Dijk to capture his 10th win of the spring.
The Bobcats answered with a pair of victories at No. 2 and No. 6. Gay fell 6-2 ,6-1 to Panik while
Adam Taylor lost 6-2, 6-0 against Joaquin Espinoza.
On court three, Casino fought back from down one set to capture the final two and secure a win for Idaho. Casino won his seventh match of the season with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 tiebreaker victory over Nathan.
Duron picked up the fifth point for Idaho and won his fifth singles match in a row, defeating Nejc Sitar 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at the No. 5 position.
NEXT UP: The Vandals continue its home stand next week when they host in-state rival Idaho State Friday, April 15 at 11 a.m.
MATCH RESULTS
Idaho 5, Montana State 2
Singles competition
1.
Francisco Bascon (ID) def. VAN DIJK, Daan (MTST) 6-2, 6-1
2. PANIK, Matej (MTST) def.
Francisco Gay (ID) 6-3, 6-2
3.
Bruno Casino (ID) def. NATHAN, Jamieson (MTST) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
4.
Matteo Masala (ID) def. BUCKLAND, Brad (MTST) 6-3, 6-2
5.
Mario Duron Garza (ID) def. SITAR, Nejc (MTST) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
6. ESPINOZA, Joaquin (MTST) def.
Adam Taylor (ID) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles competition
1.
Francisco Bascon/
Bruno Casino (ID) def. #50 PANIK, Matej/NATHAN, Jamieson (MTST) 6-3
2.
Alex Asenov/
Matteo Masala (ID) vs. VAN DIJK, Daan/SITAR, Nejc (MTST) 4-5, unfinished
3.
Francisco Gay/
Mario Duron Garza (ID) def. BUCKLAND, Brad/ZELVER, Marcos (MTST) 6-3
Match Notes:
Montana State 15-7
Idaho 7-11
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,1,2,6,3,5)
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