College Tennis News - Broncos Rally to Beat Rebels 5-2

Boise State moved into second place in the conference standings with the wi...

LAS VEGAS – The No. 46 Boise State men’s tennis team topped No. 59 UNLV, 5-2 in a Mountain West showdown, Friday.

The match will go a long way in determining conference tournament seeding as UNLV entered the match in second place and the Broncos (15-9, 3-1 MW) were third.

Boise State lost the doubles point, getting it’s only win from the No. 1 team of Bettles/Sereke which defeated Matias/Schoeman, 8-4. The No. 2 and No. 3 teams were each beaten 8-6, setting up the Bronco rally in singles.

The Orange and Blue took the drama out of the match though, coming from one point down to win the first four singles matches in straight sets and secure the team win.

Filipp Pogostkin and Garrett Patton tallied the first two points for Boise State, turning the deficit into a one-point lead. Pogostkin only conceded two games in his 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Bernard Schoeman on court four while Patton took down Johannes Markel at the No. 6 spot, 6-1, 6-4.

Nathan Sereke also won in straight sets at the No. 2 spot. He defeated freshman Gilad Berman who entered the match on a 12-match win streak. Instead, Sereke extended his own win streak to nine matches.

The clinch point came from No. 33 Andy Bettles who topped his seventh ranked opponent this season in No. 113 Ace Matias. Bettles, who had his 12-match win streak broken last week against BYU, finished in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.

Thomas Tenreiro gave the team its fifth point of the day after winning a second-set tiebreaker, 7-1. The freshman is now 18-3 in his debut season and has won 13 singles matches in-a-row.

It was the fourth time this season that the Broncos lost the doubles point and came back to win the match.

Boise State will be back in action, Sunday when the team faces Fresno State in Fresno, Calif., at 1 p.m. MT. Live stats will be available for that match HERE.

No. 46 Boise State 5, No. 59 UNLV 2

Singles

1. No. 33 Andrew Bettles (BS) def. No. 113 Ace Matias (UNLV) 7-5, 6-2

2. Nathan Sereke (BS) def. Gilad Berman (UNLV) 6-4, 6-4

3. Tamas Batyi (UNLV) def. Scott Sears (BS) 6-2, 6-7 (8-10), 1-0 (10-8)

4. Filipp Pogostkin (BS) def. Bernard Schoeman (UNLV) 6-1, 6-1

5. Thomas Tenreiro (BS) def. Charlie Alvarado (UNLV) 6-1, 7-6 (7-1)

6. Garrett Patton (BS) def. Johannes Markel (UNLV) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles

1. Andrew Bettles/Nathan Sereke (BS) def. Ace Matias/Bernard Schoeman (UNLV) 8-4

2. Johannes Markel/Tamas Batyi (UNLV) def. Garrett Patton/Scott Sears (BS) 8-6

3. Carlos Di Laura/Gilad Berman (UNLV) def. Toby Mitchell/Aidan Reid (BS) 8-6

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