Broncos Travel to Face No. 19 Michigan State and Indiana

NOTABLES

BOISE, Idaho – Boise State men's tennis is back on the road this week with a return trip to the Midwest to play two Big Ten teams at No. 19 Michigan State on Friday, followed by a match at Indiana on Sunday.

The Broncos are fresh off a trip to Columbus, Ohio, where they went 1-1 on the ITA Kickoff Weekend, defeating Oregon 4-3 before falling to top-ranked Ohio State 4-0.

Sam Sippel led the Broncos last week, going 2-1 overall (1-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-1 at No. 1 doubles), including a win over the 66th-ranked singles player from Oregon on court one. The senior earned two honors this week for that performance, having been named the Mountain West Player of the Week and Ford Boise State Student-Athlete of the Week on Wednesday.

NEED TO KNOW

Boise State (3-1) at No. 19 Michigan State (4-0)

The Location: East Lansing, Mich. (MSU Indoor Tennis Center)
Date | Time: Friday (Feb. 2) | 4 p.m. MT
Live Stats: SideArmStats
Live Stream: PlaySight.com

Boise State (3-1) at Indiana (3-2)

The Location: Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)
Date | Time: Sunday (Feb. 4) | Noon MT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Stream: PlaySight.com

THE MATCHUPS

Michigan State: The Spartans enter the week at 4-0 and ranked 19th nationally. They are coming off a week in Malibu, Calif., where MSU defeated both UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine by 5-2 scores. Michigan State will play twice on Friday, facing Louisville first, followed by their encounter with the Broncos in the evening. This will be the fifth meeting in the series, with Boise State holding a 3-1 advantage in the previous four contests.
Indiana: The Hoosiers are 3-2 heading into the week and are coming off a split last week falling 4-2 at Dartmouth before returning home to down Ball State 4-0. Indiana will play twice before their match with Boise State on Sunday, facing both Bellarmine and Marquette on Friday. Boise State won the only previous meeting between the two programs by a 4-3 score at Eugene, Ore.

TEAM NOTES

Boise State enters the week at 3-1, which includes a 3-0 start to the season with wins over Idaho State (6-1) and Lewis-Clark State (7-0) at home, followed by a 4-3 come from behind win over Oregon in Columbus, Ohio, last Saturday. The streak was snapped with a 4-0 road loss at No. 1 Ohio State on Jan. 28.
Boise State finished last year with a 21-8 overall record and ranked 60th nationally.
The Broncos are the defending Mountain West Tournament champions and have won five MW tournament titles since joining the league in 2012 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2023) and 17 conference tournament titles overall.
Of the 32 teams that the Broncos could potentially face – several are in tournaments, so they will not face all of them – on their 2024 schedule, 17 finished ranked in the top 75 in the final ITA poll last year.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Sam Sippel enters the week at 9-5 overall in singles and 2-0 at the No. 1 position this spring…he entered the spring season ranked 40th nationally in singles…he is the current MW Player of the Week.
Jip van Assendelft is 10-3 in singles and 2-1 at the second position in team duals…he advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ITA Mountain Region Championships in September.
James Van Herzeele has an 9-5 record in singles and is 3-0 in team duals, playing primarily at the No. 3 slot…he reached the round of 16 in singles at the regional last fall.
Jett Middleton is a team-best 11-5 in singles and 3-0 in team duals, playing a different position each time…he won the ITA Mountain Region consolation singles final against teammate Caden Moortgat.

COACHING NOTES

Luke Shields is in his second season as the head coach at his alma mater, Boise State…he was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2023 – the third of his career and the first with the Broncos – after leading the team to a 21-8 overall record, the MW Tournament Championship and to the first round of the NCAA tournament…his currently 24-9 at Boise State and 117-72 in his career as a collegiate head coach.
Daniel Hangstefer joined the Bronco staff as the associate head coach last summer…he was the head coach at Idaho for five years prior to coming to Boise State.