Boise State Opens MW Championship with Air Force on Wednesday

Wednesday, April 24

Las Vegas, Nev.

6 p.m. MT

Boise State

Air Force (First Round)

Men's Tennis 2024 Mountain West Championship Bracket

Boise State Opens MW Championship with Air Force on Wednesday

4/22/2024 4:22:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

BOISE, Idaho — Boise State men's tennis, fresh off its 2014 Mountain West Regular Season Co-Championship, will compete in the MW tournament this week in Las Vegas. The No. 2 seed Broncos will open against No. 7 seed Air Force in the opening round on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT.

Boise State enters championship week with a 17-10 overall record and a 5-1 conference mark. The Broncos tied Utah State for the regular season title but enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed based on the Aggies' victory over Boise State in league play.

The 61st-ranked Broncos are coming off a road sweep last week, defeating Air Force 4-2, followed by a 4-0 win at New Mexico to secure a piece of the championship.

NEED TO KNOW

Mountain West Championship at Las Vegas, April 24-26
Opening Round: No. 2 Boise State (17-10, 5-1 MW) vs. No. 7 Air Force (6-13, 1-5 MW)

Location: Las Vegas (Darling Tennis Center)
Date and Time: April 22 (Wednesday) at 6 p.m. MT
Live Stats: IOnCourt
Live Stream: PlaySight

Potential Semifinal: Versus either No. 3 New Mexico (13-9, 3-2 MW) or No. 6 UNLV (8-11, 1-4 MW)

Location: Las Vegas (Darling Tennis Center)
Date and Time: April 23 (Thursday) at 6 p.m. MT
Live Stats: IOnCourt TBA
Live Stream: PlaySight

TEAM NOTES

RECORD: The Broncos are 17-10 overall, 5-1 in conference, 12-0 at home, 3-4 in neutral contests, and 2-6 in true road matches.
REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIPS: Boise State has won four regular season conference titles all-time. The Broncos' first year as a member of a conference that played a regular season round robin was 2009, when they were part of the Western Athletic Conference. They went on to win that first WAC title and have since followed with three in the Mountain West (2012, 2014, and 2024).
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Broncos have won five MW tournament championships (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2023) since joining the conference for the 2011-12 campaign. Boise State has won 17 conference tournament titles overall in the program's history spanning four conferences: Big Sky (1974, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996), Big West (1997, 1999, 2000), Western Athletic (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007) and the five in the MW.
WINNING SEASON: The Broncos are guaranteed a winning season, the program's 32nd since 1982 and third straight.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: Boise State finished the season undefeated at home, going 12-0, and is now 23-2 under head coach Luke Shields. 2024 is the program's sixth undefeated home campaign since 1996 and the first since the 2012 team went 19-0.
VERSUS THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1982 campaign, Boise State is 11-9 versus Air Force. The Broncos are 24-14 against New Mexico and 14-7 versus UNLV.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: The Broncos have challenged themselves this year. They played 11 matches against competition nationally ranked in the top 75, going 3-8 in those contests.
NATIONALLY RANKED BRONCOS: Boise State currently has one nationally ranked doubles team. The tandem of Sam Sippel and Jip van Assendelft is currently ranked No. 47.
BRONCOS IN SINGLES: The 2024 spring roster consists of 11 student-athletes; two have recorded 20 singles victories, five others have 15 or more, and three have 10-plus. The team's win percentage in singles is .585 percent on the year, .700 in conference, and .635 in spring team duals.

BRONCO NOTES

Sam Sippel enters the week with a 16-16 overall mark and a 9-10 record at the No. 1 position this spring. He has faced 12 nationally ranked opponents and has gone 3-9 in those contests.
Jip van Assendelft typically plays at No. 2 singles, where he is 8-12 with a 16-14 overall record.
James Van Herzeele, who plays primarily at the No. 3 and 4 positions, has a 21-10 record overall in singles and a 15-5 record in team duals.
Jett Middleton is 18-12 overall in singles and 10-7 in team duals, playing primarily at the four and five positions. Last fall, he won the ITA Mountain Region consolation singles final against teammate Caden Moortgat.
Idriss Haddouch currently leads the team with an active 17-match wins streak. He plays primarily at the fifth and sixth singles positions, where he is 18-1 in duals and 20-10 overall in singles. In addition, he is the only Bronco to go undefeated in singles during conference play at 6-0.
John Chin is 16-11 in singles on the year and 12-6 in team dual competitions, playing primarily at the five and six positions.
Caden Moortgat (10), Liam Toroman (11), and Kyvan Rietkerk (10) have reached the 10-plus wins mark this season.

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 the first round of the NCAA tournament. He is currently 38-18 at Boise State and 131-81 in his career as a collegiate head coach.