Saturday, April 26, 2014

Boise State Will Play New Mexico for Mountain West Championship

The Broncos will be going for their second "three-peat" in the last ten years.  Boise State has won two consecutive Mountain West titles, and Boise State won consecutive Western Athletic Conference championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The two teams will face off tomorrow at 2 p.m. Mountain Time in Fresno.

New Mexico Having Trouble With San Diego State

#2 seed New Mexico won the doubles point, but #3 San Diego State won four first sets.  Boise State will face the winner tomorrow in the Mountain West Championship.

Patton Wins Tiebreaker 6-3

Shame on the Mountain West for putting in a system where luck in a short tiebreaker rather than skill in a third set decides the winner.  Rain delay or no rain delay, that isn't how you decide championships.

Boise State emerges with a 4-2 win in a match much, much closer than that.

Patton Rallies To Lead Tiebreaker

Patton now has a narrow 4-3 lead--no indication on who has next serve, but he was down 2-1 in the tiebreaker earlier, so he has at least turned it around.  Mitchell one game away from losing second set and going to a tiebreaker.

Mitchell Loses A Break

Toby is now down 5-4 in the second set, and could face a tiebreaker at No. 6 singles.  26-4 Boise State is now in real trouble.

Tenreiro Wins 6-1, 6-4

Thomas came through like a charm.  He has given Boise State a 3-2 lead.  Garrett Patton is in a tiebreaker at No. 4 singles.  Toby Mitchell leads his second set 4-3 after winning the first, 6-2.

Tenreiro Wins First Set 6-1

That gives Boise State four wins in the opening set. But, as we pointed out earlier, that doesn't matter in the delay-abbreviated format that the teams must use.

Three Broncos Win Opening Sets

Three Bronco singles players have won opening sets.  That's how many Boise State needs to advance in the Mountain West Men's Tennis Championships in Fresno, California, but it would be nice to have some cushion.

Nathan Sereke won 6-2 at No. 2 singles, Garrett Patton won 6-4 at No. 4, and Toby Mitchell won at No. 6 singles, 6-2.
 

Official: Bronco Women Are Out

The #4 seed goes down in the Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championships.  Wyoming upset the Broncos 4-3.

Boise State let one get away from them.

Bronco Men Win The Doubles Point

Boise State leads Nevada 1-0 in the semifinals of the men's tennis tournament in Fresno.

Reid and Foley Get a Break

Aidan Reid and Brian Foley have scored a break at No. 3 doubles and lead 7-4.  The #1 team of Bettles & Tenreiro is down by the same 7-4 score.

Sereke & Mitchell Win 8-1

The No. 2 doubles team of Boise State has won in Fresno.  The No. 1 team still down, and no breaks in No. 3 doubles.

The Good News & The Bad News...

The Bronco men have finally taken to the court, nearly two hours later than scheduled because of the delays in the womens' matches.

Boise State's #2 doubles team of Nathan Sereke and Toby Mitchell are leading 6-1, and the #3 doubles team of Aidan Reid and Brian Foley is leading their Nevada opponents 5-4.

The bad news:  Boise State's ace doubles team of Andy Bettles and Thomas Tenreiro is losing 6-3.

Watson Loses Five Consecutive Points to Lose Match

It was that kind of match today for Boise State's Sammie Watson.  She won her opening set 6-0 and was headed for an easy win.  However, she lost her second set 7-6.  In the tiebreaker, she broke her opponent's service twice to lead 5-2.  She was one point from winning her match and sending her Bronco teammates to the semifinals.

But then, she lost five straight points to lose her match, and now, Boise State and Wyoming must play doubles to decide the match.  The format will be:  the top two doubles teams play each other in a winner-take-all one set (necessitated by the lack of facilities in Fresno).  If each team wins a match, the third doubles team will then play to decide the match.

Can't we just have a regular tennis match?

Watson Loses Again

Sammie has lost her 5-2 lead and is now down 6-5 in the tiebreaker to decide the match between Boise State and Wyoming.  If the Wyoming player wins, more delays (the two teams will move to doubles) in a disastrous Mountain West Championships in Fresno.

Watson Loses One of Her Breaks

Sammie Watson was up 5-2 serving for her match and the win for the Broncos.  She lost, and her opponent held serve, so now the lead is tenuous at 5-4.  Watson again serving for the match.

Watson Up Two Break Points

Sammie Watson has come back to lead the tiebreaker at #6 singles, 4-1.  If Watson can hold on, Boise State will win the quarterfinal match.

The winner plays the winner of the Fresno State-UNLV match.  The Bulldog women are seeded #1, but having a tough time with the #8 seed.  UNLV was up 3-1, but the home team has rallied to tie the match at 3 and send it to doubles.

LaLone Wins 6-2 Tiebreaker, Boise State Leads Wyoming 3-2

The two teams will have to play doubles, thereby extending the already cramped time for the other conference teams, unless Boise State wins at #6 singles.  Sammie Watson was up 6-0, but lost the tiebreaker for the second set, 7-4.  The two players will now move to a tiebreaker to determine the winner of that match.  And again, if Espinosa wins, the two teams will then have to play doubles to decide the match.

The teams are playing at a Sport & Racquet Club--Fresno isn't blessed with a facility as fine as the Appleton Center at Boise State.  So the eleven teams in both men's and women's tennis are all there waiting to play.  In fact, the Boise State men were due to play at 2 p.m. in the semifinals, but are already 30 minutes delayed.  The other semifinal match between New Mexico and San Diego State is also delayed, as are the other three women's quarterfinal matches.

Basil Loses

Morgan Basil has dropped her match, 6-4, 7-5 at #5 singles today.

This means that unless Wyoming's Christa Gecheva can rally, the match will have to be decided by doubles.  LaLone leads Gecheva 3-2 in the tiebreaker to decide the match.  Watson at #6 singles has been unable to shake her opponent in the second set after winning the first, 6-0, and trails 5-4.  That one may come down to a tiebreaker as well.

LaLone Gets Break in Tiebreaker

Megan LaLone got a service break in the short tiebreaker in the third set of her match.  She leads 3-2 trying to get to 6 points.

Boise State Struggling With Wyoming

Sandy Vo, who just won Mountain West All-Conference honors, promptly went out and lost to her Wyoming opponent 6-4, 7-6, in the quarterfinals of the MWC Women's Tennis Championships in Fresno, California.

Because of the rain delay on Thursday, they will try to settle this without playing doubles.  They are also playing only two sets in singes.  Should each player win a set, they will go to a tiebreaker.  If one team gets to four wins first, the match is over. 

Boise State currently leads 2-1, with the Vo loss the only blemish on the Broncos' ledger today.  Anissa Bryant-Smith had no such problems, beating her opponent 6-4, 6-0 at #2 singles and Teal Vosburgh won 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, and won the tiebreaker 6-0 at #3 singles.

Megan LaLone is trying to close out her opponent, but she lost a 10-8 tiebreaker in the second set (LaLone won the opening set 6-4).  They are now in the tiebreaker, and LaLone is down 2-1.  Morgan Basil is in a tiebreaker already, trying to keep from getting beat.  Basil lost the first set 6-4, but leads the tiebreaker 10-8 in the second set.

It appears that Sammie Watson may need to win at #6 singles,  Watson breezed through the opening set 6-0, but is down 5-4 in the second.

Broncos Get Three Wins at BYU Robison Invitational

Allison Jeffries, Brandi Williams and Daniell Zehrung led the Boise State contingent yesterday at the BYU Robison Track & Field Invitational yesterday in Provo, Utah.

Jeffries broke her own school record she set last weekend in winning the pole vault with a vault of 12-feet, 10.25-inches.  Allison has now won three consecutive pole vault competitions.

Williams won the long jump with a mark of 19-2.75, while Zehrung won the mile in 5:10.53.

Hayli Bozarth recorded the third best women's hammer throw in school history with a heave of 198-8.75.