Broncos dominate at ISU Bengal Invitational

Friday, September 17

Pocatello, Idaho

All Day

Boise State

ISU Fall Invite

9/20/2021 12:57:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Boise State won seven of 12 championships including five of the six main draw titles in Pocatello.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

POCATELLO, Idaho - Boise State women's tennis dominated its first competition of the season as the Broncos cruised to seven titles — main draw and consolation — out of 12, including winning five of the six main draw championships. Overall, the Blue and Orange went a combined 30-12 going 21-9 in singles and 9-3 in doubles, three of the singles losses came to other Broncos.

"I think it was a pretty solid performance from everyone on the team throughout the weekend," said associate head coach Maria Lopez. "We were able to make adjustments from the first day and I think that it showed in our results. It was incredible to win so many of the championships that we were in. I think the team is understanding the process and what we're asking of them. It's very clear that they have put in the work and it's starting to show individually and as a team. I am very pleased with this weekend's effort."

The Blue and Orange were impressive in the season opener led by main draw titles by Pauline Ernstberger, Nicole Discenza and Ana Conde Vendrell who swept the three main draw singles titles while Joana Baptista won a consolation final.

In addition, Boise State claimed two of the three main draw doubles championships with Baptista and Holly Stewart winning the top flight while Shauna Heffernan and Conde Vendrell won the second flight. In addition, Corey Patton Lossner and Discenza won the doubles C flight consolation doubles title.

Boise State had four competing in the top flight, the orange flight. The foursome was led by Ernstberger — seeded third — who won the championship going 4-0 and not dropping a single set. She swept YaChi Hsu of Dixie State, Ana Morett from Weber State, Boise State's Stewart in the semifinal, followed by a win over Lisa Kung of Utah State in the title match.

Coach Lopez on having teammates play each other in the tournament, "I think it's fun. I mean, we talked to them about how competitive we are day in and day out in our practices. So for me, it was just nice to see that they played so well and were able to advance, then to be competitive against each other with someone eventually moving on to win a title."

Stewart won her first two contests in the round of 16 and quarterfinals over Maria Goheen from Montana and Kenadee Semenik from Weber State, respectfully — both in straight sets — then ran into Ernstberger during the semifinals.

In the bottom half of the flight, both Bhakti Shah and Joana Baptista — seeded second — dropped their opening matches to fall into the consolation draw. Both won their next contest in straight sets to set up a meeting between the two Broncos in the consolation semifinal, which was won by Baptista 8-4. Baptista went on to win the consolation championship with an 8-5 victory over Montana's Goheen.

Nicole Discenza led the way for Boise State in the black flight for singles where she won four straight without dropping a set on her way to the title. Discenza defeated Utah State's Zeynep Osturk, Weber State's Megan Lombardi, then faced teammate Shauna Heffernan in the semifinal winning a tight battle 6-4, 7-5 before moving on to beat Megan Davies from Weber State for the title.

Heffernan was seeded number one in the black flight and received a bye in the first round. She went on to beat Idaho State's Sol O Lideadha in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 before falling to Discenza in the semis.

In the Bengal singles draw, Boise State's Ana Conde Vendrell — seeded fourth — won the championship with four-straight wins, all in two sets. She opened with Weber State's Nadja Straehle, then beat ISU's Adriene Pavek in the quarterfinals, Dixie State's Alysha Damron in the semis, followed by a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Montana's Alex Walker for the title.

Lossner fell in her opening match of the Bengal draw, but regrouped to reach the consolation championship before falling to Montana's Rosie Sterk. She finished the tournament at 2-2 with victories over Dixie State's Jane Dorny (6-4, 6-2) and Cami Oyama (8-4).

In doubles play, Boise State's tandem of Baptista and Stewart went 3-0 on their way to a flight championship. They downed Dixie State's Juliana Honczaruck/Rachel Mellor (8-1) in the quarterfinals, then ISU's Lola and Lideadha, followed by the title victory over Weber State's Yuuna Ukita and Morett in a tiebreaker 8-7(5).

The Broncos' Heffernan and Conde Vendrell were seeded first in the doubles B flight and had a bye in the quarterfinals. They proceeded to roll past their opponents in the semis, Utah State's Ozturk and Millan, and Montana's Sterk and Goheen in the final, both by 8-5 scores.

Lossner and Discenza fell in their opener before rallying to win the consolation title with victories over a pair of Dixie State duos starting with Damron and Dorny (8-3) followed by a dominating 8-0 championship win over Hildreth and Hsu.

Boise State will be back in action next week when they travel to Pullman, Wash., for the Cougar Classic.