GOLD RIVER, Calif. (April 30, 2016) – Teams with the luxury of a bye are generally used to getting a punch from teams with tournament matches already under their feet, but tonight Weber State and Idaho each dealt the ultimate blow. No. 1 Weber State defeated No. 5 Sacramento State 4-1 and two-seeded Idaho topped No. 3 Northern Arizona 4-1 in the Big Sky men’s tennis semifinals Saturday.
Weber State 4, Sacramento State 1 (Box Score)
Regular season champions for the third straight year, Weber State set itself up for another shot at winning both Big Sky titles fighting past Sacramento State 4-1.
Getting on the board early took some dominance and grit from Weber State in doubles play. WSU’s No. 2 pair of Todd Fought and Jakub Gewert rolled past Sac State’s Donald Hall and Dom Miller with a 6-0 sweep. With the remaining doubles matches both tight, the Wildcats’ top court of Stefan Cooper and Sanjay Goswami grinded out a 7-6 (5) victory over Mikus Losbergs and Kasparas Zemaitelis. Those two doubles pairs are now a combined 18-4 against Big Sky opponents with Cooper and Goswami improving to 14-5 overall on the season.
Sac State wouldn’t let up in singles play, opening with Losbergs’ 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 1 court. WSU prevailed from there with three straight hard-fought wins, started off by Goswami at No. 6 singles. Goswami worked past Hall for a 7-6 (4) decision in the first set, and rolled with the momentum towards a 6-0 rout in the second.
Weber State closed the match with a pair of identical 7-5, 7-5 scores at courts four and two. Hou-En Chen earned the close win over Miller at line four to put the Wildcats up 3-1, and Fought was the closer tallying the same margin of victory over Zemaitelis at No. 2 singles. Both Fought and Goswami improved to 11-1 records against Big Sky competition this season along with identical 13-6 overall records.
Having last won the men’s tournament title back in 1992 when a round-robin format was utilized, the Wildcats are back in the championship for the second time in three seasons.
Idaho 4, Northern Arizona 1 (Box Score)
In a rematch of last year’s championship match, Idaho once again were the victors as the Vandals battled Northern Arizona to return to its second straight championship since re-joining the Big Sky.
The match looked to be a battle from the start, but Idaho used two hard-fought doubles victories to clinch the early point. Jackson Varney and Artem Vashesnikov picked up a 6-4 win on No. 1 doubles over Tim Handel and Ruben Montano. Mark Kovacs and Lucas Coutinho then gave Idaho the lead fighting past Felix Schumann and Jackson Lee 7-6 (6) on court three.
NAU entered singles play shorthanded having to sit No. 2 doubles and No. 4 singles player Eden Peleg, shifting the Lumberjacks fifth and sixth players up and putting Thomas Fisher in at No. 6. Fisher provided a spark in his substitution, earning a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Coutinho to tie the match up at 1-1.
Idaho would regain the lead moments after and for good after Vasheshnikov dropped just three games against Lee, originally NAU’s No. 6, with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at court five. 2015 Big Sky MVP Odon Barta then put the Vandals on the brink with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Handel at No. 1 singles.
With courts 2-4 remaining in singles play and NAU’s back against the wall, the last remaining matches were all very tight. With NAU threatening on courts two and four, Kovacs sent the Vandals back to the title match with a grueling 7-6 (4), 7-5 result over Schumann on court three. Kovacs’ 11th victory over a Big Sky opponent this season came timely for the Vandals, as NAU had forced third sets on the remaining courts and were both leading in those sets when Kovacs sealed the match.
Idaho advances to the championship match for the second straight season, looking to grab its 12
th Big Sky title in the school’s history. The second-seeded Vandals will meet top seed Weber State in the championship Sunday at 2 p.m. Idaho entered the tournament having put the lone blemish on regular season champion WSU’s 10-1 league record, topping the Wildcats 5-2 in Moscow just over two weeks ago. Live stats will be available for the title match on hornetsports.com.