MOSCOW, Idaho — Idaho men's tennis makes its last regular-season road trip when the squad heads to take on Portland State Saturday, with a shot at clinching a Big Sky Championship on the line. The match is set to get underway at 10 a.m from Beaverton, Oregon.
The Vandals enter the final duel of the season on a six-match win streak after the Big Sky Conference announced that during an April 9 match at Idaho, "Sacramento State's lineup was not played in order of ability." The match was then awarded to Idaho, resulting in a 4-3 victory over Sacramento State which moved the Vandals into a first place tie with Montana State.
Two teams now are vying to be named Big Sky regular-season champions and Idaho will control its own destiny heading into Saturday. A win and the Vandals will at least clinch a share of the conference championship. A win and a Montana State loss will give the program its first outright Big Sky title since 2018.
IDAHO NOTES
- Idaho's end of the season success has them sitting at 10-10 (6-1 BSC) overall after defeating Idaho State (5-2) and Montana (5-2) last week in Lewiston. The Vandals started their conference season with a 4-3 road loss to Weber State and rallied back behind six straight wins to have a shot at earning a No. 1 seed at next week's conference tournament.
- The Vandals have endured a tough road schedule with notable losses to Utah State, Washington, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Penn State, Michigan State and BYU.
- The Big Sky's Most Valuable player from a season ago, Francisco Bascon has continued to be one of the league's top players, holding an 11-3 overall mark in singles action. Bascon's 9-3 record at No. 1 is the fourth most wins amongst conference players.
- Sophomore Matteo Masala will be in pursuit of a perfect record in Big Sky play this weekend as the Italian leads the Vandals with a 7-0 singles mark in conference at the No. 4 spot. Masala has been consistent as they come all season, winning 13 out of his last 15 matches and recording a team-leading 14-4 overall record.
- Newcomer Mario Duron holds an 11-8 singles record this season, including 6-1 in conference matches. The Monterrey, Mexico native has found the most success at No. 5 with a 7-2 record.
- The Vandals' No. 1 doubles pair of Bruno Casino and Francisco Bascon got back to their winning ways after recording their biggest victory of the season over Montana State. The tandem defeated the Bobcats No. 50 ranked duo of Matej Panik and Jamieson Nathan, 6-3 in a dual victory on April 10. Bascon and Casino post a 9-9 mark in doubles while winning their past three matches.
- The Silver and Gold notched its first conference win of the season at Northern Arizona (4-3), marking the first time a conference team has recorded a win in Flagstaff since 2015 and Idaho's first win at NAU in 14 years.
- The Vandals went a perfect 6-0 at home this season.
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
- Portland State is 3-13 overall and 1-6 in conference play. PSU comes off a pair of losses last week to Paradise Valley Community College (3-4) and Northern Arizona (0-7).
- The Vikings' three wins came to Pacific (4-3), Lewis & Clark College (7-0) and Eastern Washington (4-3).
- Notable players for PSU include freshman Sam De Vries, who holds a 6-9 record for Portland State during spring action.
- The Vandals have won 4 out of their last 5 matches over the Vikings.
The Vandals travel to Phoenix next week to compete in the Big Sky Men's Tennis Championships, set to take place Apr. 28-30. Idaho will be on the hunt for the program's 13th Big Sky Championship title.
Stay up to date on all things Idaho Men's Tennis by following the team on Twitter @vandalstennis and Instagram @vandalmtennis.
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