Moscow’s post-spring break snow and below-freezing temperatures do not seemingly accommodate the outdoor tennis season. Especially compared to typically tropical places like Australia or Mexico, which several Idaho women’s tennis players call home.
Aside from Molly Knox, who is from Richland, Wash., and Annamaria Gould of Boise, the team consists of recruits from much warmer climates. In fact, the team’s average hometown temperature Wednesday was 60.8 degrees — almost twice Moscow’s.
“Well for a spring day it’s definitely not what I thought a spring day was,” Melbourne, Australia’s Sophie Vickers said. “It’s not the ideal weather for tennis either so (I’m) not a big fan of today’s (Wednesday’s) weather.”
Vickers’ home climate is a bit different than what she has experienced in Idaho.
“Reasonably warm summers, and our winters — I thought they were cold, but after coming here — they are not cold at all. There is definitely no snow anyways,” Vickers said.
She said she had seen snow in the mountains when skiing and snowboarding, but only briefly, so living in it every day was a bit of a shock. Vickers feels she adjusted well, but said a jacket and warm-up definitely come in handy on cold March days.
Sophomore Bety Flores is from Guzman, Mexico, a place even warmer than Melbourne. She is one of three Vandals from the same part of Mexico — Alejandra and Vicky Lozano are from Guadalajara. Flores said the only snow they ever see is in the mountains. She said it’s nothing like Moscow but she enjoys of the change.
“I kind of like it because for me it’s a totally new experience being able to wake up in the mornings and see that everything’s white,” Flores said.
She said the new experience made her transition to colder weather a little easier and adjust to playing more indoor tennis. Flores said she thinks it’s funny when coach Daniel Pollock complains about the weather.
“He says it’s spring and it shouldn’t be snowing and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah come on let’s go play in it,'” Flores said.
Pollock said he was hoping the team had seen the last of the snow when Moscow hit 60 degrees a couple weeks ago. He said he takes measures to protect his players from the elements, like modified practices and warm-ups.
The weather isn’t what Pollock sells to recruits who visit Idaho. He said he sells UI on what a great place Moscow is for students, with a reasonable cost of living, the support of UI athletics and a thriving tennis program.
“There are a lot of good things about Idaho, even if the weather is not one of them when it comes to our sport,” Pollock said. “We do have a tough schedule, we do have good players here, even if it is sort of unknown outside of the U.S.”
He said Idaho didn’t intentionally recruit a team from warm climates, but it happened by chance. The trio from Mexico started with Alejandra Lozano and then her sister Vicky Lozano followed. Later Flores got in touch with Idaho. Pollock said Idaho got lucky recruiting Vickers, and it signed her at the last minute.
Vickers and Flores would both prefer their hometown’s climate and agree that the weather is not what sold them on Idaho.
“If the tennis program looks good and if the university itself looks like a good school, I think people will come anyways,” Vickers said. “The town is a good place to be and the weather isn’t that big of a factor I don’t think.”
Flores said the school and the town are great, but what convinced her most to come to UI were Pollock and Idaho Director of Tennis Jeff Beaman.
“I could feel like they were really nice people so I think that helps them a lot for recruiting people,” Flores said. “They are really nice and really respectful and you can feel the good feeling that they have.”
Pollock said he appreciates that players go out on a limb and play for Idaho instead of more typically recognized schools for tennis.
“It’s our job as coaches to make that decision worthwhile for them and make them want to stay once they get here,” Pollock said. “We do everything we can to make sure the girls have the best time possible here.”