Courtesy of Boise State Athletics – 

LAS VEGAS – Boise State senior James Van Herzeele rallied from two down in the third set to hand the Broncos a dramatic 4-3 victory over Nevada in the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Championship semifinal round Thursday night in Las Vegas.

The win advances the two-time defending champions to Friday night’s final versus the No. 2-seeded New Mexico Lobos at 6 p.m. (MT).

The Broncos opened the match strong, claiming the doubles point 2-0, and were leading in the other when it was abandoned. Carson Baker and Jett Middleton raced to a 6-1 win on court one, followed by Idriss Haddouch and James Van Herzeele’s 6-3 win at the No. 3 position to clinch the point.

Haddouch cruised at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-2 to extend Boise State’s lead to 2-0 over the Wolf Pack.

After Nevada closed the gap to 2-1, Boise State regained its two-point advantage when Lukas Velik held off Nevada’s Rayen Hermassi 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3 singles to move the Broncos within one of victory, up 3-1.

After Nevada had rallied to tie the match at 3-3, Boise State’s Van Herzeele clinched it with a dramatic third-set rally. Trailing 5-3, Van Herzeele won four straight games to secure the win in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, to advance the Broncos into the championship match on Friday.

Notables

  • The win advances Boise State to its eighth MW Championship final since joining the league in 2012; the Broncos are 6-1 in MW finals and 17-3 in conference tournament finals all-time.
  • Boise State’s all-time record at the MW Championship is now 20-5 (.800).
  • The Blue and Orange stretched its win streak to 13, one short of tying the school record.
  • The Broncos extended their series lead over Nevada to 37-25 all-time.
  • Idriss Haddouch extended his unbeaten streak in singles to 15 straight matches, improving to 20-10 overall and 15-1 in spring duals.
  • Lukas Velik won his 22nd singles match of the year, tying for the team lead.
  • The doubles team of Carson Baker and Jett Middleton improved to 14-7 overall and 11-6 at No. 1 doubles.
  • James Van Herzeele won his 21st match of the year to improve to 21-9 overall and 16-2 this spring. The win was the 79th in his career, tying him for 15th in program history, one short of 14th.

Box Score

No. 42 (#1) Boise State (21-4) vs. (#4) Nevada (13-10)
Doubles (Order of finish: 1,3)

  1. Baker/Middleton (BSU) def. Hammond/Kadiri (NEV) 6-1
  2. Taiyo Kurata/Julius Seifert (BSU) vs. Valente/Tregoures (NEV) 4-3 DNF
  3. Haddouch/Van Herzeele (BSU) def. Contet/Hermassi (NEV) 6-3

Singles (Order of finish: 5,2,3,1,6,4)

  1. Youseff Kadiri (NEV) def. #121 Jett Middleton (BSU) 6-3, 7-6(5)
  2. Lucas Hammond (NEV) def. Carson Baker (BSU) 6-2, 6-3
  3. Lukas Velik (BSU) def. Rayen Hermassi (NEV) 6-4, 7-5
  4. James Van Herzeele (BSU) def. Remy Tregoures (NEV) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
  5. Idriss Haddouch (BSU) def. Maxime Contet (NEV) 6-1, 6-2
  6. Gregoire Valente (NEV) def. John Chin (BSU) 6-4, 7-6(3)