MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho men's tennis (2-8, 1-1 BSC) closed out a three-match homestand with a 2-1 record, defeating Seattle U and Montana over the weekend inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

After falling to Idaho State on Friday, the Vandal men responded with a 5-2 win over Seattle U on Saturday and a 6-1 rout over Montana on Sunday. 

Idaho 5, Seattle U 2 
Idaho won two of three doubles matches, while four Vandals were victorious in singles to help clinch UI's first victory of the 2024 spring season and record the first career win for first-year head coach Raleigh Grossbaum. Saturday's meeting against the Redhawks was also the first competition where Idaho would have all eight players available and healthy. 

The Vandal duos of Matteo Masala/Yu-Shun Lai and Mario Duron/Alejandro Salvador came out on top on courts two and three. Masala and Lai won 6-3 at No. 2 while Duron and Salvador also earned a 6-3 result.

The return of two-time All-Big Sky honoree Francisco Gay would be just what Vandal fans wanted to see. Gay didn't disappoint in his first appearance of the 2024 campaign, earning a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win on court one. 

Freshman Sebastian Medica followed with a straight-set win over Veselin Kiselkov on court four. Medica won the first 6-4 before earning a 7-6 (7-2) tiebreak win in the second. 

Masala earned the all-deciding fourth point for Idaho on court three. After suffering a 5-7 opening set loss, the Italian bounced back to win in the second (6-4) and third (6-3).    

Duron added one more team point to the scoreboard to close out play, securing a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 6. 

Idaho dropped matches at No. 2 and 5 singles positions. 

Idaho 6, Montana 1
The Vandals picked up its first conference win and fifth consecutive victory over Montana behind their third straight doubles point and wins on five out of six courts in singles. 
 
Doubles action started with Montana taking the first match on court three with a 6-2 win. Shortly after, UI evened it up at 1 apiece when duo Matteo Masala and Yu-Shun Lai won 6-2 at No. 2. Idaho's top court of Alex Asenov and Sebastian Medica made it 1-0 after posting a 6-4 result. 

The Vandals' top two courts were victorious to begin singles play. Taiyo Kurata won 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in his fourth match of the season, while teammate Francisco Gay followed suit to make it a 3-0 Idaho lead. Gay's game was a back-and-forth affair on court one that included tiebreaks in both sets, winning both 7-6 (7-5) and 7-6 (7-2). 

Medica clinched the match with a 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-1 win over Guillermo Martin to move to 2-0 at No. 4 singles.

Mario Duron won in straight sets at No. 5 singles for the second day in a row, this time winning 6-1, 6-2 over Chris Zhang. The match was cut short after Montana's Moritz Stoeger retired due to injury against Lai. Stoeger led 5-7, 3-3 before it was called.
  
Idaho returns to competition next week for a road match at Eastern Washington on Saturday, March at 2 p.m.

University of Idaho 5, Seattle U 2 

Singles competition 
1. Francisco Gay (UIDAHO) def. Jun Sasagawa (SEATTLEU) 6-2, 6-2 
2. Filip Stipic (SEATTLEU) def. Taiyo Kurata (UIDAHO) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 
3. Matteo Masala (UIDAHO) def. Julian Worn (SEATTLEU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 
4. Sebastian Medica (UIDAHO) def. Veselin Kiselkov (SEATTLEU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) 
5. Dario Ristovski (SEATTLEU) def. Yu-Shun Lai (UIDAHO) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 1-0 (14-12) 
6. Mario Duron (UIDAHO) def. Michael Frank (SEATTLEU) 6-4, 6-2 

Doubles competition 
1. Filip Stipic/Jun Sasagawa (SEATTLEU) def. Alex Asenov/Sebastian Medica (UIDAHO) 6-3 
2. Yu-Shun Lai/Matteo Masala (UIDAHO) def. Michael Frank/Julian Worn (SEATTLEU) 6-3 
3. Mario Duron/Alejandro Salvador (UIDAHO) def. Veselin Kiselkov/Yu-Han Hsieh (SEATTLEU) 6-3 

University of Idaho 6, Montana 1 

Singles competition 
1. Francisco Gay (UIDAHO) def. WIGER-NORDAS, B. (UM) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2) 
2. Taiyo Kurata (UIDAHO) def. PEREZ, Fernando (UM) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) 
3. BITTNER, Tom (UM) def. Matteo Masala (UIDAHO) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 
4. Sebastian Medica (UIDAHO) def. MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-1 
5. Mario Duron (UIDAHO) def. ZHANG, Chris (UM) 6-1, 6-2 
6. Yu-Shun Lai (UIDAHO) def. STOEGER, Moritz (UM) 5-7, 3-3, retired 

Doubles competition 
1. Alex Asenov/Sebastian Medica (UIDAHO) def. BUCURESCU, Dragos/MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) 6-4 
2. Matteo Masala/Yu-Shun Lai (UIDAHO) def. BITTNER, Tom/ZHANG, Chris (UM) 6-2 
3. STOEGER, Moritz/WIGER-NORDAS, B. (UM) def. Mario Duron/Alejandro Salvador (UIDAHO) 6-2 

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,1,4,3,5,6)

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