Sunday, February 21
Boise, Idaho
12:00 p.m. MT
Boise State
vs
Gonzaga
Broncos Come Back to Beat Gonzaga 4-3
2/21/2021 6:21:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Wyatt Demulling won a third-set tiebreaker as the Boise State men's tennis team overcame a 3-0 deficit to take down Gonzaga Sunday afternoon in Boise.
BOISE, Idaho – Two years in a row the Boise State men's tennis team fell to Gonzaga in heartbreaking fashion, but the team rewrote that story on Sunday as redshirt-senior Wyatt Demulling won a thrilling third-set tiebreaker to put his team on the right side of a 4-3 match against the Bulldogs.
"We've played these guys (Gonzaga) three years in a row now and every match has ended 4-3," said head coach Kristian Widen. "We knew it was going to be a battle and I'm just so proud of our guys for being on the other side of that 4-3 score."
The Broncos had anything but an ideal start as they dropped all three of the doubles matches to the Zags and were down 1-0 early with little to hold on to. Gonzaga kept pressing forward as they added two quick singles wins on courts one and two to put the Broncos down 3-0 and push them to the edge of defeat.
With his team desperate for a win Lawrence Sciglitano dug deep and secured a tough straight-set victory 7-5, 6-2 over Hunter Egger to give his team a fighting chance. Michael Bott followed closely behind winning his match on court five by the same score over Theo McDonald, and suddenly the Broncos saw a chance down only 3-2 with two matches still to be decided.
At the No. 3 position, Boise State's Luka Soskic sensed his chance to help turn things around for his team and he battled to a 7-5, 6-4 finish over Leon Roider, evening things 3-3 and setting up an all-deciding affair in the final match.
On court five, all eyes were turned to Demulling. He battled back from losing the first set 6-4 to win the second set 6-2, and suddenly the team captain was in the position to deliver a huge win for his team.
"The coaches told me at the beginning of the second set that the match was going to come down to my court," said Demulling. "I could have shied away in the second set, I could have just crumbled, but instead I was just fighting for every single point."
Fight for every point he did. As the third set went back and forth it was only fitting the match come down to a tiebreaker. Demulling jumped out in front 2-0, but Gonzaga's Oliver Andersson wouldn't go away as he came back to tie it 4-4. When it seemed Andersson had gained an edge, Demulling dug in and won the final three points of the tiebreaker, collapsing to the ground in joy as his teammates rushed the court to celebrate with him.
"I'm so proud of our guys for bringing it back after losing the doubles point where we didn't play very well," said Widen. "We played from our gameplan and every guy stuck to it." I'm so proud of Wyatt for pulling through in the tiebreaker and battling back against some big leads."
"It's just the mentality of never giving up," said Demulling. "This match shows we have grit. It really shows that no matter what happens in the beginning of the match we can pull it out. This is a huge, huge win for us having lost 4-3 to them the last two years. I'm just overcome with emotions. I don't even know what to say, it was awesome."
Up next, the Broncos have another three-match weekend as they take on Lewis-Clark State and Seattle U on March 6, then face in-state rival Idaho on March 7.
BOISE STATE 4, GONZAGA 3
SINGLES RESULTS
1. HOLLINGWORTH, M. (GON) def. Kryvchun, Kyryll (BSU) 6-3, 6-0
2. TRKULJA, Sasha (GON) def. Bayldon, Blake (BSU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Soskic, Luka (BSU) def. ROIDER, Leon (GON) 7-5, 6-4
4. DeMulling, Wyatt (BSU) def. ANDERSSON, Oliver (GON) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
5. Bott, Michael (BSU) def. McDONALD, Theo (GON) 7-5, 6-2
6. Sciglitano, Lawrence (BSU) def. EGGER, Hunter (GON) 7-5, 6-2
DOUBLES RESULTS
1. McDONALD, Theo/ANDERSSON, Oliver (GON) def. Kryvchun, Kyryll/Bott, Michael (BSU) 6-2
2. ROIDER, Leon/TRKULJA, Sasha (GON) def. Bayldon, Blake/Sciglitano, Lawrence (BSU) 6-2
3. HOLLINGWORTH, M./PERKINS, Matthew (GON) def. Ridemar, Lukas/Moortgat, Caden (BSU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,2,6,5,3,4)
"We've played these guys (Gonzaga) three years in a row now and every match has ended 4-3," said head coach Kristian Widen. "We knew it was going to be a battle and I'm just so proud of our guys for being on the other side of that 4-3 score."
The Broncos had anything but an ideal start as they dropped all three of the doubles matches to the Zags and were down 1-0 early with little to hold on to. Gonzaga kept pressing forward as they added two quick singles wins on courts one and two to put the Broncos down 3-0 and push them to the edge of defeat.
With his team desperate for a win Lawrence Sciglitano dug deep and secured a tough straight-set victory 7-5, 6-2 over Hunter Egger to give his team a fighting chance. Michael Bott followed closely behind winning his match on court five by the same score over Theo McDonald, and suddenly the Broncos saw a chance down only 3-2 with two matches still to be decided.
At the No. 3 position, Boise State's Luka Soskic sensed his chance to help turn things around for his team and he battled to a 7-5, 6-4 finish over Leon Roider, evening things 3-3 and setting up an all-deciding affair in the final match.
On court five, all eyes were turned to Demulling. He battled back from losing the first set 6-4 to win the second set 6-2, and suddenly the team captain was in the position to deliver a huge win for his team.
"The coaches told me at the beginning of the second set that the match was going to come down to my court," said Demulling. "I could have shied away in the second set, I could have just crumbled, but instead I was just fighting for every single point."
Fight for every point he did. As the third set went back and forth it was only fitting the match come down to a tiebreaker. Demulling jumped out in front 2-0, but Gonzaga's Oliver Andersson wouldn't go away as he came back to tie it 4-4. When it seemed Andersson had gained an edge, Demulling dug in and won the final three points of the tiebreaker, collapsing to the ground in joy as his teammates rushed the court to celebrate with him.
"I'm so proud of our guys for bringing it back after losing the doubles point where we didn't play very well," said Widen. "We played from our gameplan and every guy stuck to it." I'm so proud of Wyatt for pulling through in the tiebreaker and battling back against some big leads."
"It's just the mentality of never giving up," said Demulling. "This match shows we have grit. It really shows that no matter what happens in the beginning of the match we can pull it out. This is a huge, huge win for us having lost 4-3 to them the last two years. I'm just overcome with emotions. I don't even know what to say, it was awesome."
Up next, the Broncos have another three-match weekend as they take on Lewis-Clark State and Seattle U on March 6, then face in-state rival Idaho on March 7.
BOISE STATE 4, GONZAGA 3
SINGLES RESULTS
1. HOLLINGWORTH, M. (GON) def. Kryvchun, Kyryll (BSU) 6-3, 6-0
2. TRKULJA, Sasha (GON) def. Bayldon, Blake (BSU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Soskic, Luka (BSU) def. ROIDER, Leon (GON) 7-5, 6-4
4. DeMulling, Wyatt (BSU) def. ANDERSSON, Oliver (GON) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
5. Bott, Michael (BSU) def. McDONALD, Theo (GON) 7-5, 6-2
6. Sciglitano, Lawrence (BSU) def. EGGER, Hunter (GON) 7-5, 6-2
DOUBLES RESULTS
1. McDONALD, Theo/ANDERSSON, Oliver (GON) def. Kryvchun, Kyryll/Bott, Michael (BSU) 6-2
2. ROIDER, Leon/TRKULJA, Sasha (GON) def. Bayldon, Blake/Sciglitano, Lawrence (BSU) 6-2
3. HOLLINGWORTH, M./PERKINS, Matthew (GON) def. Ridemar, Lukas/Moortgat, Caden (BSU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,2,6,5,3,4)
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