The University of Idaho Argonaut

The men’s tennis team played its final match of the regular season Saturday as it beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs 6-1.
The conditions were perfect for the Vandals’ only home match of the season as they advanced their record above .500 and defeated a team that beat them earlier in the season.
“We lost to them 5-2 last time and just to thump them this time, that’s a great feeling,” said junior Tim Huynh. “We wanted blood, so we went out there and got it.”
The day began with doubles competition, where the Vandals made a statement winning all three matches and taking the doubles point with ease.
The Vandals quickly picked up two more wins, when both Andrey Potapkin's and Rob Chalkley’s opponents retired from the matches due to injury. Both Idaho players had the lead when their opponents retired.

Then the Vandals locked in the fourth win at No. 2 when Stanislav Glukhov defeated Gonzaga’s Roman Dojcak 6-3, 6-2.
“It was one of the better days the men have had this year,” said Idaho coach Jeff Beaman.
The two teams finished out the final three matches as the Vandals won at No. 4 and No. 6 with Huynh and Hugh McDonald, but lost at No. 5 with Andrew Dobbs.
The win got the team to 13-12, a disappointment after a 9-4 start to the season, but the team is satisfied with the winning record.
“It’s been a long time since we had a winning record at Idaho,” Huynh said. “To be part of making history, it’s always a good feeling.”

The men will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Western Athletic Conference Championships held in Las Cruces, N.M.
The women’s team extended its winning streak to seven after defeating the Portland State Vikings on Sunday 4-3.
The women swept the Vikings 7-0 earlier this season and knew the team would be looking to get its revenge against the Vandals.
“I was nervous going into it and interested to see what was going to happen,” Beaman said. “My predictions came true, it came down to about as close as it can be.”
The Vandals began the day strong, earning the doubles point after defeating the Vikings at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions.

The singles matches began with two wins for the Vandals at No. 1 Silvia Irimescu and No. 2 Barbara Maciocha, but Portland answered back winning at No. 3, 4 and 5, tying the match at 3-3.
The weight of the match was on the shoulders of Idaho freshman Natalie Kirch at No. 6. She won the first set 7-6, but lost the second set 6-7.
After a back and forth match, Kirch finally defeated Portland State’s Caitlin Stocking in the third set 6-3 to secure the win for the Vandals and increase their record to 14-8.
Before the match began, Beaman reminded the team that its earlier win over the Vikings could have gone either way, after the win he told the team that the match was an example of where they need to be to be a good team.

“We’re going into the match telling them Portland State’s a tough team. They’re hungry. We can’t be overconfident,” Beaman said. “After the match, just saying this is what we were talking about. Some people are going to have a good day, some people are going to have a bad day, but across the board you just have to go out and be tough.”
The women’s team will travel to Spokane today where they’ll take on Gonzaga at the Spokane Racquet Club at 3 p.m. Gonzaga has a current record of 9-12.
The women return on Wednesday to host Hawai’i, which holds an overall 2-16 record. The matches will be played on the Memorial Gym courts and will begin at noon.