Boise State Rallies Past Nevada in MW Semifinal

Thursday, April 27

Las Vegas, Nev.

6 p.m. MT

Boise State

Nevada

Photo by: NCAA Photos

4/27/2023 10:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis

James Van Herzeele clinched the win with a three-set victory at No. 4 singles to advance Boise State to the Mountain West Championship title match versus Utah State.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

LAS VEGAS – Boise State men's tennis – the third seed – rallied from 2-0 down to defeat the second-seeded Nevada Wolf Pack 4-3 Thursday night in a Mountain West Championship semifinal at Las Vegas. The Broncos improve to 20-7 overall and advance to the title match Friday.

With the match tied at 3-3, James Van Herzeele completed Boise State's rally with a hard-fought three-set victory 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 at No. 4 singles over former Bronco Pedro Liborio to clinch the win.

The contest opened with doubles where the Broncos collected a 6-3 victory on court three by Jan Lucca Marquardt and Sam Sippel for the early edge for the team point. But Nevada came back with wins on the other two courts to take a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.

Down 2-0, Boise State saw its deficit cut in half when Idriss Haddouch claimed a straight-sets victory at No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-4.

Trailing 3-1, Sippel took No. 2 singles in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 pulling the Broncos once again within one of the Wolf Pack at 3-2.

Boise State pulled even when Arca Costas rallied after dropping a set one tiebreaker to win No. 1 singles in three 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2 to tie the match at three all, setting up Van Herzeele for the match winner.

Notables

Marquardt won his 25th doubles match of the year, while Sippel earned his 21st.
Haddouch won his eighth singles match of the season since joining the team in January.
Sippel recorded his 18th singles win of the year as he improved to 18-9.
Arca Costas kept his wins streak alive at 23 as he improved to 32-5 overall…it was his 103rd career singles victory moving him into a tie for fifth place in program history…his 32 wins are tied for third all-time for a single season.
Arca Costas now has 180 combined (singles and doubles) career wins to move within one of tying for sixth all-time.
Van Herzeele improved to 24-12 on the year in singles.
The win over Nevada avenges a 4-0 road loss at Nevada one week ago and extends the Boise State advantage in the series to 27-13 since 1987.
Friday's appearance in the MW Championship will be the sixth all-time and the first since 2016 when the Broncos lost to UNLV 4-3…Boise State joined the conference for the 2012 campaign and proceeded to win four-straight titles (2012-15).

What's Next

Boise State will face the 4th-seeded Utah State Aggies for the Mountain West Championship at 5 p.m. (Mountain) on Friday in Las Vegas. The Aggies knocked off the top-seeded New Mexico Lobos Thursday evening by a 4-3 score.

Agate

Mountain West Championship, Semifinal
Las Vegas, Nev. | Darlington Tennis Center

#3 Boise State (20-7) def. #2 Nevada (11-8) 4-3
Doubles (Order of finish: 3,2,1)
1. N'Tcha/Juan Batalla (UN) def. Arca Costas/Michael Bott (BSU) 7-6(5)
2. Coupu/Kadiri (UN) def. Moortgat/Van Herzeele (BSU) 6-4
3. Sippel/Jan Lucca Marquardt (BSU) def. Benn/Zisswiller (UN) 6-3

Singles (Order of finish: 3,6,5,2,1,4)
1. Simon Arca Costas (BSU) def. Matheo Coupu (UN) 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2
2. Sam Sippel (BSU) def. Youssef Kadiri (UN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
3. Delmas N'Tcha (UN) def. Caden Moortgat (BSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. James Van Herzeele (BSU) def. Pedro Liborio (UN) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5
5. Loris Zisswiller (UN) def. John Chin (BSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
6. Idriss Haddouch (BSU) def. Satchel Benn (UN) 6-2, 6-4