The Huskies hand the Broncos a 5-2 loss in men’s tennis (Jan. 17)
By Desmond Ordonez
Boise State men’s tennis took a 5-2 loss to the University of Washington on Monday, Jan. 17 in Seattle, despite having a strong start to the meet.
Junior Jan Lucca Marquardt shined the brightest. The Altdorf, Germany native cruised to win in both his singles and doubles matches.
As a team, Boise State capped off three doubles-match sweeps to take the team point. Early on, senior Simon Arca Costas and sophomore Caden Moortgat rallied down 4-3 to bounce Washinton’s dynamic duo of Jack Davis and Han-Chih Lin, 6-4.
Following comeback wins from Arca Costas and Moorgat, redshirt senior Michael Bott and junior Ryo Minakata clinched the team point at No. 3 doubles with a 6-4 win over Washinton’s Nedim Suko and Jack Pulliam.
The final doubles contest of the day was won by freshman James Van Herzeele and senior Jesse Haas after closing a 4-3 deficit to win three straight and pull off a 6-4 victory over Washington’s Ewen Lumsden and Rikuto Yamaguchi.
Finally, down one heading into singles, the Huskies rallied to capture a 3-1 lead with wins on courts one and four, respectively.
Men’s basketball pulls away win against Utah State (Jan. 20)
By Ryan Marshall
Prior to the Boise State men’s basketball game on Jan. 20, the Broncos were on a ten-game winning streak, which is the third-best in the nation. With this win (62-59) against Utah State the Broncos improved to 14-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play.
The defense played solid with a win in Logan, Utah, by holding the Aggies to a 38.5% shooting average.
The Aggies were up in the final minutes, but the Broncos scored the last six points of the game to secure the victory.
Redshirt junior guard Marcus Shaver Jr. came up only three points, but those came at critical moments. He secured the victory with his shot with less than two seconds left.
Junior forward Mladen Armus played a crucial role on the boards and led the team with 22 points a career-high 19 rebounds. His role helped to get 23 second-chance points.
Next up, the Broncos will be traveling to San Diego, California, to compete against San Diego State on Saturday, Jan. 22. Their next home game will be Tuesday, Jan. 25 against the University of Wyoming.
Women’s tennis finishes well at Long Beach State Winter Invitational (Jan. 21-23)
By Matthew Valento
Boise State women’s tennis finished with a record 22-12 at the singles and doubles tournament to open their spring campaign. The Broncos opened their 2022 season with the best record (22-12) of four teams at the Long Beach State Winter Invitational this weekend (Jan. 21-23).
The Broncos combined 15-8 in singles and 7-4 doubles. Six Broncos finished with winning singles records, and three went a combined 5-1 at the tournament.
Leading the way for Boise State were juniors Holly Stewart, Joana Baptista and Ana Conde Vendrell, who all went 5-1 on the weekend.
Sophomores Nicole Discenza and Shauna Hefferman both went 4-2 overall and recorded 2-1 marks in both singles and doubles.
Lastly, sophomore Pauline Ernstberger finished the tournament with a 4-2 record but went 1-2 in singles and undefeated in doubles.
Some victories for the Broncos came against the likes of Portland State University, Long Beach State University (LBSU) and California State University, Northridge (CSUN).
Boise State will open the team dual season the weekend of Feb. 4-5 when they play Dixie State and Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.
Men’s basketball extends win streak against San Diego State (Jan. 22)
By Mason Becker
Photo courtesy of Boise State Athletics
The Boise State men’s basketball team kept the ball rolling after a strong defensive effort, leading to a 42-37 win over San Diego State on Jan. 22.
Though it was a rough night for both teams, with each shooting under 35% from the field, the Broncos got the job done with a strong second-half performance and have now extended their win streak to 12. This is their second-longest win streak in school history.
San Diego State led at halftime 23-22, but Boise State showed no mercy in the second half, only allowing San Diego to score 14 points, their lowest in a half this season.
Freshman forward Tyson Degenhart led Boise State in scoring with 14 points and also grabbed four rebounds. Degenhart went 8-8 from the free-throw line, including two made free throws to tie the game with 1:04 left, and two more to seal the game.
Redshirt senior guard Marcus Shaver Jr. added 13 points and four rebounds, including a three-pointer that put Boise State up 40-37 with 30 seconds remaining.
Redshirt Senior forward Emmanuel Akot also added eight more rebounds, tying his career high.
Boise State looks to extend their win streak and perfect play in the Mountain West conference against Wyoming on Tuesday, Jan. 25. The Cowboys are currently second in the conference behind the Broncos.
Men’s tennis comes back after three points down against Abilene Christian (Jan. 23)
By Jenna Vitamanti
Boise State men’s tennis scored four unanswered points after trailing 3-0 to take the win against Abilene Christian University (ACU) on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 23) in Waco, Texas.
This 4-3 win improved the Broncos to 2-2 overall on the season and will play second-ranked Baylor in Waco on Jan. 24.
The Broncos had singles wins by junior Ryo Minakata, sophomore Caden Moortgat, freshman Pedro Liborio and the victory was secured by freshman James Van Herzeele.
Minakata began the rally with a straight-set win 6-3, 6-3 to trail 3-1 to ACU.
Liborio won a close-scoring two-set affair 7-5, 7-5 to help the Broncos, after being named Mountain West’s first “Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Week” on Jan. 19.
The final match was decided by Van Herzeele with a tight 7-6(2) win and won 7-5 to finish the Boise State rally.
