PHOENIX – The Idaho men's tennis team returned to the Big Sky Tennis Championship for the first time since 2018. The one-seeded Vandals defeated four-seeded Montana, 4-1, on Friday morning at the Phoenix Tennis Center.
"After we dropped the doubles point, I told the guys we needed to keep being steady and stay composed and play in the moment," Idaho head coach
Daniel Hangstefer. "This situation wasn't new to us. The guys were able to build off of the experiences that they have had this year. That experience pushed us through this match today."
Idaho will take on No. 2 Montana State in the finals. The Bobcats beat three-seeded Northern Arizona, 4-3. The two teams faced off back on April 10, with the Vandals taking home the 5-2 victory.
The match began with Montana earning wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to hand Idaho an early 1-0 deficit.
Francisco Bascon and
Bruno Casino were victorious over UM's Ed Pudney and Moritz Stoeger, 6-2 at No.1.
The top-four courts claimed wins to help Idaho advance to Saturday. Freshman
Francisco Gay earned Idaho's first singles win, going 6-3, 6-2 over Lawrence Sciglitano at No. 2. Bascon followed with another straight-set victory against Montana's No. 1 Pudney 6-3, 6-2 to give the Vandals a 2-1 lead.
Matteo Masala kept his perfect conference record alive, defeating Gustav Theilgaard 7-6, 6-3 at the No. 4 spot. In the opening set, Masala fought back from down 6-3 in the tiebreak by recording five straight points to earn the 8-6 decision.
Casino delivered another comeback at No. 3 after dropping the first set 6-1 to Oisin Shaffrey. He battled back to clinch the match for Idaho, winning 6-3, 6-1 in the final two sets.
Idaho was tied at No. 5 and trailed at No. 6 as both matches went unfinished.
Saturday's final is set for 8 a.m. PT. Live stats will be available and can be found by clicking
here.
"We held home-court advantage last time out against them and now we are at a neutral site situation here tomorrow," Hangstefer said. "They are definitely going to bring their A-game and if we want to win, we are going to have to bring our A-game. We have to play like we want to win a championship tomorrow."
MATCH RESULTS
Idaho 4, Montana 1
Singles competition
1.
Francisco Bascon (IDAHO) def. PUDNEY,Ed (UM) 6-3, 6-2
2.
Francisco Gay (IDAHO) def. SCIGLITANO,Lawrence (UM) 6-1, 6-2
3.
Bruno Casino (IDAHO) def. SHAFFREY,Oisin (UM) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
4.
Matteo Masala (IDAHO) def. THEILGAARD,Gustav (UM) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
5.
Mario Duron Garza (IDAHO) vs. STOEGER,Moritz (UM) 4-6, 6-3, 5-5, unfinished
6.
Alex Asenov (IDAHO) vs. BALDWIN,Sam (UM) 4-6, 6-1, 1-4, unfinished
Doubles competition
1.
Francisco Bascon/
Bruno Casino (IDAHO) def. PUDNEY,Ed/STOEGER,Moritz (UM) 6-2
2. SHAFFREY,Oisin/SCIGLITANO,Lawrence (UM) def.
Matteo Masala/
Alex Asenov (IDAHO) 7-5
3. THEILGAARD,Gustav/BENN,Milo (UM) def.
Francisco Gay/
Mario Duron Garza (IDAHO) 7-5
Match Notes:
Montana 15-5
Idaho 12-10
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,1,4,3)
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