Idaho State men’s tennis is building something real

POCATELLO — In tennis, there is no clock, no running out the game, no safe lead to protect. There is only the next point, and the mental fortitude to take it.

Tennis programs across the country are fighting for survival. In Pocatello, the Bengals are just warming up.

A record 35 college-connected players competed in the singles draws at Wimbledon 2025, with players like Ben Shelton turning NCAA success into deep Grand Slam runs. Yet there is a growing paradox that shadows the sport: college tennis is proving its value as a pathway to the professional level while simultaneously facing threats to its survival, as programs are cut nationwide for financial reasons.

The sport has long carried a reputation that has worked against it. Country clubs, white linen and a culture of quiet etiquette have defined tennis in the public imagination for decades, keeping casual fans at arm’s length. But the college game looks nothing like that.

“Tennis has a bit of a country club feel and probably a lot of people think of it like that,” said ISU’s first-year head tennis coach Oliver Good. “But college tennis is a lot more, a lot less sort of etiquette in that sense. It’s a lot more like other sports in terms of just cheering and supporting your teammates.”

Good is focused on something more immediate — building a program the right way.

The Bengals carry a 3-9 record in singles and 1-5 in doubles on the season, numbers that do not tell the full story of a young, internationally diverse roster still finding its footing in a team setting.

The Bengals’ roster spans four continents. Lewie Bouman and Sep de Visser make the journey from the Netherlands, while Hayden Ciguenza, Jack Calleri, Luka Vujacic and Sam Wensley represent Australia. Valentino De Pellegrin brings experience from Argentina, Quentin Lamothe from France and Rafael Maya from Mexico. The only American on the roster is senior Tyler Dalos of Boise.

Unlike basketball or football, most tennis players spend their formative years competing alone, chasing individual rankings in junior tournaments across the globe before arriving at a college program and being asked, sometimes for the first time, to subordinate personal ambition for a teammate. That transition does not happen overnight, and Good knows it.

“It’s an individual sport that a lot of our players grow up playing individual tournaments, and then now in college, they compete in a team setting,” Good said. “You’re sort of competing for yourself, but also for your team as well.”

Good structures his program to bridge that gap deliberately. Players receive individual practice sessions tailored to their specific developmental needs, then come together for team practices where the stakes are manufactured to mirror match pressure. The roster is split in half, with rewards and consequences riding on the outcome, forcing players to invest in each other’s performance the same way they invest in their own.

The mental demands of the sport make that investment harder than it sounds. A tennis player can never simply protect a lead. There is no kneeling out the clock, no icing a free throw, no taking the air out of the ball. Every point exists in a vacuum, and the player who cannot compartmentalize will unravel.

“You’ve always got time to come back, and you always have time to allow the other person to come back as well,” Good said. “You’ve got to be mentally strong to be able to finish off matches and win the final point to end the match.”

That mental edge is what separates good teams from great ones, and Good believes his roster is developing it in real time. Luka Vujacic carries an unbeaten singles record into the heart of the season. Jack Calleri and Valentino De Pellegrin remain the team’s only undefeated doubles pairing, a bright spot in a doubles unit that has otherwise struggled to find consistency at 1-5 on the year. The pieces are there. The question is whether they come together when the Big Sky Conference season demands it most.

“We have a group that is capable of achieving a lot, and they’ve shown this year what they’re capable of doing. We want to win our conference, we want all the players to develop their game and continue to improve on an individual level, and off the court, we want players that represent the program in the best possible way and always show respect for all people they encounter during their time at Idaho State.”