Bronco Men Conclude Utah Invitational
10/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Freddy Walsh led the Boise State men’s tennis team at the Utah Invitational in Salt Lake City, Utah this past weekend (Oct. 15-17), as Walsh advanced to the consolation semifinals before bowing out of tournament action.
Walsh, who was one of three Broncos competing in the tournament, bounced back from a first round loss to Sven Poslusny (Utah State), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, with consecutive wins in the consolation bracket. In the consolation round of 16, Walsh beat Nikita Ryashchenko of Utah State, 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 before beating Jose Manuel (Utah State) 7-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. His weekend would end in the back draw semifinals, however, losing to Weber State’s Henning Hipp, 6-3, 6-1.
Nick Gourley was the only Bronco to earn a first round win at the tournament, as he opened Thursday’s competition with a 6-4, 7-6 defeat of Amit Maharaj of Utah State. Gourley would only play one more match, though, losing to Thomas Shubert of BYU, 6-0, 6-2, to end his weekend.
Rounding out the group of competitors for Boise State was Michael Gilliland, who finished 1-2 in singles play. Gilliland opened the tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Alex Golding of Utah. In the consolation round of 16, he earned his lone win against Alex Thatcher (Utah State) 6-2, 7-6. He would bow out of singles in the consolation quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Michael Eraso of BYU.
Gilliland and Walsh also teamed up in doubles competition, where they opened with an 8-5 win against Maharaj and Poslusny in the round of 16. Their doubles success would be short lived, however, as the Broncos fell in the quarterfinals, 8-6, to Utah State’s Jacob Asplund and Bryan Marchant.
Boise State will next travel to the Wilson/ITA Mountain Regional Championships, this Wednesday-Sunday (Oct. 21-25), at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
