Idaho men’s tennis suffered a demoralizing loss to in-state rivals Boise State Saturday, falling 7-0 to the No. 45 Broncos at BSU’s Boas Tennis Center.
BSU took the doubles scene by storm, winning all three matches. The Broncos’ James Meredith and Nathan Sereke defeated Marius Cirstea and Andrew Dobbs 8-5 at the No. 1 spot, Scott Sears and Andy Bettles escaped a close 8-7 decision against UI’s Jose Bendeck and Abid Akbar. BSU’s Garrett Patton and Filipp and Pogostkin closed it out convincingly, beating Cristobal Ramos Salazar and Cesar Torres 8-3.
Idaho couldn’t come up with a match or set during singles play and though the Vandals remained competitive, only Ramos Salazar came close to taking a set during his 7-6 (4), 6-2 loss to Sears.
“BSU is one of the elite teams in the country this year and they keep improving every match this spring that they play,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “I am sure they will be in the top 25 when we have a chance for a rematch if we play them in their spring team tournament this March. Our team is young and will also continue to improve with match play this season. Once we get our doubles on track I feel we can get some big wins.”
BSU has emerged as a Western powerhouse in recent years and took down the No. 26 Washington Huskies Feb. 4. The Broncos reached the Round of 16 in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships.
The Vandals, now 4-4, travel to Nebraska this weekend where they take on Nebraska and Drake in Lincoln Saturday before going to Omaha to play Creighton Feb. 20.