POCATELLO, Idaho – The Bengals men's tennis team wrapped up their 11-match road trip this week taking on Sacramento State, as well as returning home to Reed Gym for the first time in nearly two months to face Portland State and Montana State.
Beginning in the doubles matches in Bengals' match at Sacramento State, the first duo for ISU, playing in the #1 doubles spot, was Victor Sklenka and Valentino De Pellegrin, who could not get it done, falling to Mark/Mate 3-6. Needing to win both of the remaining doubles matches, Wikus Robbertse and Andreas Kramer stepped up, giving the Bengals life after defeating Hayden/Adam in the #2 doubles match, 6-2. Leaving the doubles point up to Ege Cankus and Hiroki Fujita in the #3 doubles match. The boys would come through, as they would defeat Jiri/Jan 6-4 to earn ISU the 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Heading into singles play ISU knew the match was far from over. Beginning in the #1 singles match, Valentino De Pellegrin would fall to the Hornets' K. Mark 3-6, 1-6, however, Wikus Robbertse would get the win in the #5 singles match over N. Jiri, 6-1, 6-3, to give Idaho State a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for the Bengals they would fall in all four remaining singles matches, giving the Hornets a 5-2 win in Sacramento.
The next match up for ISU was Friday morning as they took on Portland State in their first home match in nearly two months.
In the doubles matches vs the Vikings the first match to finish was the #3 doubles match where Ege Cankus and Hiroki Fujita would take care of business, downing Jovanovic/Brignacca, 6-4. The next doubles match to wrap up was Wikus Robbertse and Andreas Kramer as they would fall to the Vikings' pairing of Mathiasan/Semerak, 7-6 (7-4). With it all coming down to the #1 doubles match, Victor Sklenka and Valentino De Pellegrin would come through in the clutch, downing the PSU duo of Edwards/Kuszynski 7-6 (7-5).
Idaho State looked to continue off the hot start, and they would do just that, as each Bengal playing in singles would go on to defeat their Viking opponents. Andreas Kramer, Hiroki Fujita, and Wikus Robbertse would go on to sweep their matchups, and Valentino De Pellegrin, Victor Sklenka, and Ege Cankus would all bring home three set wins. Giving the Bengals the sweep and the victory, 7-0.
In their final match of the weekend the Bengals would take on Montana State.
In doubles matches versus the Bobcats, the Idaho State duo of Wikus Robbertse and Andreas Kramer would close out MSU's Ciobotaru/Jayathilake, 6-3, in the #2 doubles match. Looking to secure the doubles point, Valentino De Pellegrin and Victor Sklenka would defeat Relic/Necz 7-5 in the #1 doubles match, giving the Bengals a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
In the singles matches Idaho State would pick up where they left off in doubles play, with Valentino De Pellegrin getting the 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 win over D. Ciobotaru in the #1 singles match. In the #2 singles match Victor Sklenka would fall to M. Relic 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the #3 singles match Andreas Kramer would get the Bengals within one win of the team victory, after he would take care of business in three sets, defeating A. Necz 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. In the #6 singles match Ege Cankus would not be denied the match clinching win, as he would take it to K. Jayathilake, winning 6-4, 6-1, giving the Bengals the win over the Bobcats. In the final two singles matches, Hiroki Fujita would defeat R. Hermassi in the #4 singles match, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, and Wikus Robbertse would down A. Stewart 6-4, 6-2 in the #5 singles match, giving Idaho State the 6-1 win over Montana State.
Following the 2-1 week of play, Idaho State moves to 11-7 overall and 3-1 in Big Sky Conference play.
Head coach Oliver Good shared his thoughts on the team's play this week, "The guys competed well all week. Both Friday and today were full team efforts. We're looking forward to resting up now, then preparing for Montana next week."
The Bengals will play their next match on the road in Missoula, Montana against the University of Montana on Sunday, March 31st at 11 AM.