Freshman Felipe Fonseca, Vandals have good showing in EWU Fall Classic
While veteran players for Idaho had good tournament runs, it was freshman Felipe Fonseca who outshone the rest of the Vandals in Idaho’s opening men’s tennis tournament.
File Photo | Argonaut
Felipe Fonseca, freshman tennis player
In his first collegiate tournament, Fonseca won the Main Flight B singles against Luke Ness from Eastern Washington (6-0, 6-3) in the quarterfinals, No. 1 seed Sergio Chip from Gonzaga (6-4, 6-4) in the semifinals and Connor Leahy of Seattle U (6-0, 6-3) in the championship match at the EWU Fall Classic in Cheney, Washington. He finished 4-0 in the tournament.
“Felipe Fonseca had a great tournament,” Idaho coach Art Hoomiratana said. “He’d been practicing great, so I guess kind of confirmed by that.”
The freshman from Curitiba, Brazil, was the No. 6 ranked player in Brazil and No. 1 in his state before coming to Idaho this year.
Idaho had solid performances from others too, as junior Odon Barta won the consolation bracket in Main Flight A singles. After falling to No. 2 seed Nick Kamisar of Gonzaga in the first round (6-4, 6-2), Barta advanced through the consolation bracket to the championship round, where he faced teammate Cristobal Ramos Salazar. Eventually, Barta outlasted Ramos Salazar in sets of 7-6 (4) and 6-2. Barta finished with a 3-1 record, and the one player who beat him, Kamisar, won Flight A.
Barta had more success in doubles, as he and freshman partner Mark Kovacs came into the Main Draw doubles as the No. 2 seed. The duo beat Seattle U’s pair of Connor Leahy and Riley Newman 8-1 in the semifinals, but they were bested in the championship match by Gonzaga duo, Alvaro Nazal and Kamisar 7-5, 6-2.
As the Vandals prepare for their next tournament this weekend at the Boise Fall Invite, Hoomiratana is content with how the first one went for the team.
“I think there were some good things we need to improve on, but overall for our first tournament it was fine,” he said. “Mark played well, lost to a guy from Seattle, but the guy was an experienced player. The more Mark plays the better he’s going to get.”
For the other Vandals in the Main Flight A singles, junior Jackson Varney finished 1-2, Ramos Salazar finished 2-2 and junior Andrew Zedde finished 0-1. In Main Flight B, freshman Rhys Richardson finished 2-2 while fellow freshman Kovacs finished 1-1.
In the Main Draw doubles, Zedde and Varney finished 0-1, but the doubles pair of Ramos Salazar and Fonseca finished 3-1, winning the consolation tournament after being bounced in the first round of the Main Draw.
Both Varney and Zedde had injury problems in the tournament, Hoomiratana said.
“Andrew isn’t feeling well, so it’s hard to get a beat on him. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him,” Hoomiratana said. “He might not be traveling (to Boise) with the health related issue.”
Varney, a two-time SWAC player of the year, was competing in his first matches in a Vandal uniform before leaving with a back injury.
“He was banged up going in, so he wasn’t 100 percent going in,” Hoomiratana said. “He played two matches in a short time frame. It was just the way the draw was. So he pulled out he didn’t want to hurt is back further.”
The Vandals will stay in state for their next tournament as they play in the Boise Fall Invite Friday to Sunday.
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]