BEAVERTON, Ore. – Idaho men's tennis closed out the regular season in convincing fashion on Saturday. The Vandals swept Portland State, 7-0, finishing off the season with a 7-1 Big Sky record and clinching a share of the conference title.
"I'm very proud of what this team has accomplished," Idaho head coach
Daniel Hangstefer said. "They are such a great group of guys and I've had so much fun coaching this team. I put together one of the toughest schedules that they have ever seen and they continued to battle all season. We opened the conference season with a loss, but we came together as a team and it pushed us to get better in each match. I am very proud of what they have accomplished this far but we are not done yet. We have more business to take care of."
The Silver and Gold will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament, receiving an automatic spot in the semifinals. Idaho will open the tournament on Friday, April 29.
The Vandals won two out of three matches in doubles to take the early 1-0 lead.
Matteo Masala and
Alex Asenov opened the day with a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles. The Vikings won at No. 1 but conceded their match at No. 3 to give Idaho the point.
Idaho took a 2-0 advantage after Portland State forfeited its match at No. 6 singles.
Three out of five singles matches were won by the Vandals via straight sets.
Francisco Bascon led off with a dominant win over PSU's Nils Plutat 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1.
Mario Duro clinched the match win with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over the Vikings No. 5. Masala shortly finished up after with his own 6-2, 6-2 result over Sam De Vries at No. 4 to finish his regular season a perfect 8-0 in conference.
Two and three closed out the sweep.
Bruno Casino rallied back after dropping the opening set 6-0 to win the final two sets 6-3, 6-1 over Oliver Richards at No. 3.
Francisco Gay won his third match in a row at the No. 2 spot, defeating Tommy Hsu 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-5).
Idaho will look to capture its first Big Sky Championship since 2018 next week in Phoenix, Ariz. The conference tournament is set to take place April 28-30.
Be sure to stay up to date on next week's action at the Big Sky Championships by following the squad on Twitter @vandalstennis and Instagram @vandalmtennis.
MATCH RESULTS
Idaho 7, Portland State 0
Singles competition
1.
Francisco Bascon (UI-F) def. PLUTAT,Nils (PSU) 6-1, 6-0
2.
Francisco Gay (UI-F) def. HSU,Tommy (PSU) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 10-5
3.
Bruno Casino (UI-F) def. RICHARDS,Oliver (PSU) 0-6, 6-3, 6-1
4.
Matteo Masala (UI-F) def. DE VRIES,Sam (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
5.
Mario Duron Garza (UI-F) def. HOLTARI, Otto (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
6.
Alex Asenov (UI-F) def. No player (PSU), by default
Doubles competition
1. PLUTAT,Nils/RICHARDS,Oliver (PSU) def.
Francisco Bascon/
Bruno Casino (UI-F) 6-3
2.
Matteo Masala/
Alex Asenov (UI-F) def. DE VRIES,Sam/HSU,Tommy (PSU) 6-4
3.
Francisco Gay/
Mario Duron Garza (UI-F) def. No player/No player (PSU), by default
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,1,5,4,3,2)
--
