The Seattle University men's tennis team played its first-ever Western Athletic Conference match Sunday, falling 7-0 to No. 63 Idaho at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Wash.
The Redhawks were competitive in the doubles matches as their lone win on the day came at No. 2 doubles. Jason Bediones (Kent, Wash.) and Will Topp (Olympia, Wash.), playing together for the first time this season, defeated Idaho's Cristobal Ramos and Jose Bendeck 8-5 to avoid a doubles sweep as the Vandals prevailed in the other two matches.
Zach Kosanke (Bellevue, Wash.) and Kevin Lynch (Colorado Springs, Colo.), who were also first-time doubles partners, fell 8-2 to Idaho's Marius Cirstea and Abid Akbar to start the match. At No. 3 doubles, Ian Clare (Sachse, Texas) and Flavio Malagutti (Rio Claro, Brazil) traded points with Idaho's Torres and Kritjuno for much of the contest before falling 8-5, giving the doubles point to Idaho.
In singles play, however, points were hard to come by for the Redhawks as Idaho won all six singles contests in straight sets. Topp nearly claimed a set at No. 2 singles, forcing Cirstea to win a seventh game before falling 7-5. In the second set, Topp couldn't nab another crucial break, however, and fell 6-4.
At No. 5 singles, Clare took six total games from Idaho's Ramos, but fell in the end 6-3, 6-2, while Lynch battled with Akbar at the top of the singles lineup and lost 6-2, 6-2.
Rounding out the singles scores, Kosanke lost 6-0, 6-1 to Bendeck in the third slot, Kyle Rapp (Encinitas, Calif.) fell 6-1, 6-0 to Torres at No. 4 singles, and Bediones lost 6-2, 6-1 to the Vandal's Krijanto.
Seattle U's (0-10) next matches will now take place Friday, March 15 in a doubleheader with the University of Washington. Those matches will start at 3:00 p.m., again at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.
The Redhawks' March 11 match against North Dakota, slated for 12:30 p.m. start at the Amy Yee Tennis Center in Seattle, has been cancelled, along with the women's match that was set to start right after the men's match. The North Dakota tennis teams could not fly into Seattle as they were stuck in an ice storm in Denver, Colo.
No. 63 Idaho 7, Seattle University 0
Nordstrom Tennis Center-Seattle, Wash.
Doubles
1) Cirstea/Akbar (UI) def. Kosanke/Lynch (SU) 8-2
2) Bediones/Topp (SU) def. Bendeck/Ramos (UI) 8-5
3) Torres/Krijanto (UI) def. Malagutti/Clare (SU) 8-5
Order: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1) Abid Akbar (UI) def. Kevin Lynch (SU) 6-2, 6-2
2) Marius Cirstea (UI) def. Will Topp (SU) 7-5, 6-4
3) Jose Bendeck (UI) def. Zach Kosanke (SU) 6-0, 6-1
4) Cesar Torres (UI) def. Kyle Rapp (SU) 6-1, 6-0
5) Cristobal Ramos (UI) def. Ian Clare (SU) 6-3, 6-3
6) Ivan Krijanto (UI) def. Jason Bediones (SU) 6-2, 6-1
Order: 3, 4, 6, 1, 2, 6