Every team likes to end its regular season on a high note, and for the Vandal women’s tennis team that came in the form of two consecutive WAC victories.
The Vandals played two of their four WAC matches during the final weekend, and beat San Jose (13-6, 3-2 WAC) and La. Tech(14-7, 0-3 WAC) 5-2.
The final weekend wasn’t all positives for Idaho though, which got off to a rough start falling to the University of San Francisco Thursday.
“San Francisco was a tough team, they were deep all the way down just like we anticipated,” Idaho coach Daniel Pollock said.
He said USF’s (6-12) poor record is the result of playing the best teams in the country. Pollock said the first match of a road trip is never easy and the team lacked energy needed to get the win. Sophomore Ale Lozano said they were intimidated by USF.
“We were a little bit pressured because we heard they were really good so we didn’t go as confident as we usually do but we were really close,” Lozano said.
Pollock said the match was great preparation for Idaho’s Friday match against the San Jose State Spartans — Idaho’s third WAC match of the season.
Pollock said the Spartans’ new coach has done great with the team and they came out strong and fired up.
“Our girls came out, they didn’t get overwhelmed by the amount of noise coming at them, and the amount of intensity,” Pollock said. “They just held their ground, they dug in, and we had some really good wins.”
He said the way Idaho approached the game was much different than San Jose State, which is reflected in its WAC record.
The Vandals returned to Moscow Sunday and earned a victory against the La. Tech Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs came in with a record like the Spartans’ but the Vandals were determined to keep their record on the winning side.
“It’s huge for us going 3-1 in WAC matches and it should give us great confidence going into the WAC tournament this week,” freshman Sophie Vickers said.
She said it was great playing at home and the supportive crowd made it even better.
“The atmosphere fires us up a little bit and gives us a bit more confidence so it’s always good to have Vandal fans here supporting us,” Vickers said.
The confidence was evident and Vickers said it was a great ending to an amazing regular season.
“We have had a successful season that I don’t think many were expecting, including ourselves, so we all should be really proud,” Vickers said. “But its not over yet, we want to go in to the (WAC Championship) and play well and see what we can do there.”
Sunday was also senior day for the team and seniors Molly Knox and Annamaria Gould were recognized for their contributions to the team. Lozano said time goes really fast and it’s hard knowing two members of the team will soon be gone.
“Even though we have just had Annamaria for one semester, we had a great time and Molly, this is my second year with her, and I am so proud of her and I know she is going to be great in life, I’m so proud of them,” Lozano said.
After the match, Pollock told the team they should all be confident and proud of themselves for what they have accomplished this year.
“18-7 overall for a team like this — so young, so inexperienced, so much traveling, so many matches on the road — they have done a wonderful job,” Pollock said.
He said 3-1 in the WAC is a great record because it’s a tough conference.
“Hopefully we get a good seed at the tournament and we will see what we can do down there,” Pollock said. “Hopefully we can win a round or two.”
The WAC Championship starts Thursday in Las Cruces, N.M., and Idaho should be the No. 3 or 4 seed.
Charles Crowley can be reached at [email protected]