Idaho falls to Wichita State and Northern Arizona over break
After winning their first two games during spring break, Idaho dropped its next two against No. 46 Wichita State and Northern Arizona.
The two game series began Monday against Wichita State in Las Vegas. The Vandals dropped all three doubles matches to the Shockers, as Cristobal Ramos Salazar and Jackson Varney lost the No. 1 doubles match to Tomislav Gregurovic and Tin Ostojic of Wichita State in the nonconference dual. Felipe Fonseca and Odon Barta lost the No. 2 doubles match and the No. 3 match went unfinished due to the Shockers winning the first two.
Singles went a lot better for Idaho than doubles did. Fonseca won the No. 2 singles match, while Ramos Salazar (No. 3 singles match) and Mark Kovacs (No. 5) won theirs. The whole game came down to the final singles match between Barta and Ostojic in the No. 1 match, with the individual winner deciding what team would win. Barta took the first set, while Ostojic took the last two to win the match and game for the Shockers.
“The guys competed well and pushed a tough nationally ranked program to the limit,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “The guys need to take from (this game) the belief in what level we can be as we continue to develop as a team and get better individually.”
The next day, Idaho went to Flagstaff, Arizona, for a conference matchup with Northern Arizona. The game was moved up to 1:00 p.m., giving the Vandals a very short rest time between matchups. The lack of rest showed, as NAU handed Idaho their second straight loss 5-2.
Idaho was able to win two doubles matches, making the match look promising. Varney and Ramos Salazar defeated Kester Black and Adi Zilberstein in the No. 1 doubles match while the pair of Barta and Fonseca beat Alexandre Locci and Jordan Gobatie in the No. 2.
Then came singles, and the Vandals completely fell apart. Only Varney was able to win his singles match, in the No. 4 match against Black of Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks won all five other singles matches, and were able to win the game 5-2.
Idaho fell to 10-6 after the two losses, and sits at 3-1 in Big Sky play.
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]