Idaho men’s tennis to head to Las Vegas for ITA Regionals
As the two weeks off for the Idaho men’s tennis team close, the Vandals prepare for the biggest tournament of the fall — the ITA Regionals Wednesday to Sunday in Las Vegas. After up and down performances for most players during the first two tournaments, Idaho will try for most consistent success from all players in Vegas.
The Vandals are in the midst of their two weeks off after they traveled the last two weekends to tournaments in Cheney, Washington, and Boise. Idaho coach Art Hoomiratana said he is happy to get some extra time off for the competition and is using it to prepare for such a big tournament.
“We’re going to train really hard,” he said. “We run in the mornings and then we’re lifting three times a week. So this will be some heavy weeks for (the players). Normal practice, but pretty intense conditioning to get ready.”
Many Vandals stepped up and did really well in last weekend’s tournament in Boise after poor showings at the Eastern Washington Fall Classic. Senior Cristobal Ramos Salazar and junior Jackson Varney had injury problems at the EWU Fall Classic that led to disappointing results. Both players rebounded in Boise and met in the Flight B Championship match, where Ramos Salazar bested Varney. Both players will try to carry that success to the ITA Regionals.
Felipe Fonseca and Mark Kovacs, both freshmen, had great starts to their collegiate careers for Idaho. At EWU, Fonseca finished 4-0 and won his flight in his first collegiate tournament. At Boise, Fonseca lost his first match, but rolled through the consolation bracket to the championship match where fellow Vandal Odon Barta defeated him. Kovacs found his groove in Boise, winning Flight C and capturing his first collegiate championship.
The ITA Regionals will be tougher, especially for freshmen playing in just their third collegiate tournament. Hoomiratana said he is excited to see how it goes for both players, but said the ITA Regionals is different than other tournaments.
“It’s a little different, because it is just one flight, and so it’s a really good, competitive tournament,” he said. “So it’s good to see where people stand. You could be playing someone ranked or that has a lot of experience, and as a freshman that’s tough, so it’s good for the experience. We’ll just take it one match at a time and see where it goes.”
The ITA Regional incorporates the region from Idaho and Montana down to New Mexico, Hoomiratana said, which means many Big Sky and Mountain West teams will be there.
“We’ll see like Boise (State), Utah, UNLV, there will be some tough teams there,” he said. “Boise State didn’t have all their players competing (in the last tournament), but they will be tough. Utah State is really improving and they’ll be tough from what we saw (in Boise). Everybody is a little bit better.”
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]