Sunday, January 23
Waco, Texas
3 p.m. MT
Boise State
4
vs
3
Abilene Christian
Broncos rally from three down to beat Abilene Christian
1/23/2022 7:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Trailing 3-0, Boise State won the final four singles matches to claim the win over the Wildcats.
WACO, Texas – Boise State men's tennis rallied from three points down Sunday afternoon to defeat Abilene Christian 4-3 in Waco, Texas. Leading the Broncos' rally against the Wildcats were Ryo Minakata, Caden Moortgat, Pedro Liborio and James Van Herzeele, who had the match clinching victory. Boise State, who improved to 2-2 on the season with the win, will face second-ranked Baylor Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. (MT) in Waco.
"It was just an amazing match today, we dropped the doubles point and then the first two singles matches, not the way we wanted to start out," said Boise State Head Coach Beck Roghaar. "But I'm incredibly proud of the fight and the resolve of our guys to come back and make it happen in singles. We knew coming in it was going to take everybody on every court doing their job and staying focused.
The momentum swing started with Ryo getting us on the board, then we managed to close out a few really close matches to give us a chance. But it all came down to our freshmen James, just the growth he has shown since he's been here to walk through the door and to play in that match, in that situation this early in his career was pretty incredible. It was just awesome to see these guys come back and play really disciplined tennis and make great decisions at big moments of matches to get us this win."
ACU opened the match by taking the early momentum over the Broncos claiming the team doubles point 2-0. The Wildcats earned wins on courts one and two, while the third went unfinished.
Down one heading into the singles portion of the competition, the Blue and Orange needed four victories out of the six singles matches to get the win. It did not start out well for the Broncos who dropped matches on courts one and six, respectively, as the Wildcats moved to within one of victory up 3-0.
But Boise State refused to go down that easy. Minakata, a junior, began the Bronco rally with a solid straight-set victory on court five 6-3, 6-3 over ACU's Cesar Barranquero to cut the deficit to two at 3-1.
Moortgat followed by recording the next singles victory, also in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 on court three versus Tyler Stewart, pulling Boise State within one of tying the match score up at 3-2.
Liborio, the reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Week, pulled the Broncos even with the Wildcats at No. 2 singles where he won a tight two-set affair 7-5, 7-5 over Dario Kmet.
That left one match remaining to decide it all, that contest was on court four where Van Herzeele was battling ACU's Savan Chhabra. The freshman from Thailand came through for the Blue and Orange claiming a tight 7-6(2) win to claim set one on a tiebreaker, then put it away with a 7-5 victory in set two to complete Boise State's epic rally.
Match Box Score
Boise State (2-2) def. Abilene Christian (0-4) 4-3
Waco, Texas (Baylor)
Jan. 23, 2022
Doubles (Order: 1,2)
1. Daniel Morozov/Tyler Stewart (ACU) def. Arca Costas, Simon/Moortgat, Caden (BSU) 6-1
2. Savan Chhabra/Riley Tran (ACU) def. Haas, Jesse/Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) 6-4
3. Minakata, Ryo/Liborio, Pedro (BSU) vs. Mihaly Deli/Jose Maria Rastrojo (ACU) 4-5 DNF
Singles (Order: 1,6,5,3,2,4)
1. Daniel Morozov (ACU) def. Arca Costas, Simon (BSU) 6-1, 6-2
2. Liborio, Pedro (BSU) def. Dario Kmet (ACU) 7-5, 7-5
3. Moortgat, Caden (BSU) def. Tyler Stewart (ACU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Van Herzeele, James (BSU) def. Savan Chhabra (ACU) 7-6, 7-5
5. Minakata, Ryo (BSU) def. Cesar Barranquero (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Mihaly Deli (ACU) def. Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) 7-5, 6-1
"It was just an amazing match today, we dropped the doubles point and then the first two singles matches, not the way we wanted to start out," said Boise State Head Coach Beck Roghaar. "But I'm incredibly proud of the fight and the resolve of our guys to come back and make it happen in singles. We knew coming in it was going to take everybody on every court doing their job and staying focused.
The momentum swing started with Ryo getting us on the board, then we managed to close out a few really close matches to give us a chance. But it all came down to our freshmen James, just the growth he has shown since he's been here to walk through the door and to play in that match, in that situation this early in his career was pretty incredible. It was just awesome to see these guys come back and play really disciplined tennis and make great decisions at big moments of matches to get us this win."
ACU opened the match by taking the early momentum over the Broncos claiming the team doubles point 2-0. The Wildcats earned wins on courts one and two, while the third went unfinished.
Down one heading into the singles portion of the competition, the Blue and Orange needed four victories out of the six singles matches to get the win. It did not start out well for the Broncos who dropped matches on courts one and six, respectively, as the Wildcats moved to within one of victory up 3-0.
But Boise State refused to go down that easy. Minakata, a junior, began the Bronco rally with a solid straight-set victory on court five 6-3, 6-3 over ACU's Cesar Barranquero to cut the deficit to two at 3-1.
Moortgat followed by recording the next singles victory, also in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 on court three versus Tyler Stewart, pulling Boise State within one of tying the match score up at 3-2.
Liborio, the reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Week, pulled the Broncos even with the Wildcats at No. 2 singles where he won a tight two-set affair 7-5, 7-5 over Dario Kmet.
That left one match remaining to decide it all, that contest was on court four where Van Herzeele was battling ACU's Savan Chhabra. The freshman from Thailand came through for the Blue and Orange claiming a tight 7-6(2) win to claim set one on a tiebreaker, then put it away with a 7-5 victory in set two to complete Boise State's epic rally.
Match Box Score
Boise State (2-2) def. Abilene Christian (0-4) 4-3
Waco, Texas (Baylor)
Jan. 23, 2022
Doubles (Order: 1,2)
1. Daniel Morozov/Tyler Stewart (ACU) def. Arca Costas, Simon/Moortgat, Caden (BSU) 6-1
2. Savan Chhabra/Riley Tran (ACU) def. Haas, Jesse/Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) 6-4
3. Minakata, Ryo/Liborio, Pedro (BSU) vs. Mihaly Deli/Jose Maria Rastrojo (ACU) 4-5 DNF
Singles (Order: 1,6,5,3,2,4)
1. Daniel Morozov (ACU) def. Arca Costas, Simon (BSU) 6-1, 6-2
2. Liborio, Pedro (BSU) def. Dario Kmet (ACU) 7-5, 7-5
3. Moortgat, Caden (BSU) def. Tyler Stewart (ACU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Van Herzeele, James (BSU) def. Savan Chhabra (ACU) 7-6, 7-5
5. Minakata, Ryo (BSU) def. Cesar Barranquero (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Mihaly Deli (ACU) def. Marquardt, Jan Lucca (BSU) 7-5, 6-1
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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