The Vandal women’s tennis team starts play Friday at the Cougar Classic in Pullman for its second tournament of the season.
The tournament is a tradition as the team plays there year after year, Idaho coach Myriam Sopel said.
“It’s a good atmosphere,” Sopel said. “A lot of the players are friends, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an intense tournament.”
Ten teams are playing in the tournament including Washington State, Boise State, Idaho, Gonzaga, Lewis-Clark State College, Montana State, Portland, Portland State, Seattle and Utah State. Sopel said the teams competing are all strong, but based on recent results she thinks the Vandals will do well this weekend.
“We did well in the tournament last weekend,” Sopel said. “We had a freshman in the final. She beat two girls from BSU and one from WSU. We had winning records in both singles and doubles against both WSU and BSU. Our results have been really positive so far and I think we are ready to build on that.”
Sophomore Belen Barcenilla and junior Sophie Vickers claimed the Orange Flight doubles championship in Boise last weekend. Freshman Galina Bykova made the final before falling 7-5, 6-2 to Boise State’s Morgan Basil.
Sopel said the players are ready now, but they will be preparing this week with practice matches to make sure they are sharp in match play.
The tournament will be split into several different flights based on player rankings. According to the draw, both singles and doubles are split into two flights — Crimson and Gray. Idaho players in the Crimson Singles flight include seniors Beatriz Flores, Vicky Lozano, and Almudena Sanz along with Bykova. Sanz and Flores are in the top half of the draw, while Lozano and Bykova are in the bottom half. Lozano is the number three seed in the flight.
In the Gray Singles flight Idaho’s Rita Bermudez is in the top half of the draw while Vickers and Barcenilla are both in the bottom half. There is no seeding in this flight.
In the Crimson Doubles, Bykova and Lozano take on a duo from Gonzaga in the top half of the draw. Bermudez and Sanz will also be playing a Gonzaga team, but they are in the bottom half of the draw.
The Gray Doubles flight includes the Idaho pairing of Barcenilla and Vickers in the bottom half of the draw. Flores is also in the bottom half, but she is paired with Utah State’s Ashley Stuhlman.
Neither of the doubles flights are seeded.
The tournament is scheduled for Friday through Sunday.
Andrew Deskins can be reached at [email protected]