Idaho women’s tennis surged through Valentine’s Day weekend, defeating two conference opponents and extending its current win streak to four games.
The Vandals, now 4-3 and 3-0 in the Big Sky, defeated Idaho State 6-1 Saturday, Weber State 5-2 Sunday and Utah State 4-3 Monday.
The women’s team now sits atop the conference, two matches ahead of Eastern Washington and Montana.
Against the Bengals, the Vandals survived an early deficit in doubles. Seniors Marianna Petrei and Maria Tavares helped even the score from the No. 1 court, defeating Megan Poe and Hristina Cvetkovic 6-3.
Sophomore Laura Spataro and freshman Anna Stefani completed the doubles comeback, winning on court No. 2 6-2.
From there, Idaho stormed through singles, dropping just one match on the day. Petrei and Spataro highlighted the match with wins of 6-1, 6-1 apiece.
From Pocatello, the Vandals headed south to Ogden, Utah for a meeting with Weber State.
Again, the Vandals prevailed. In doubles, Idaho’s fate reversed with an initial win from Petrei and Tavares followed by two losses.
The early deficit proved no issue once Idaho took the court in singles. The young players stormed though the competition, with Spataro and Stefani both handedly beating their opponents. Petrei closed out the match with a victory-sealing 7-4, 3-6 win on court No.1 against Kuo Pei-Hsuan.
Idaho concluded its winning weekend by prevailing over Utah State in a down-to-the-wire match. The Petrei-Tavares combination again proved effective in doubles, but Idaho’s other two pairs combined for just four points, resulting in an early 1-0 lead by the Aggies.
Petrei took her doubles momentum into singles, winning 6-1, 6-1 on court No. 1. Stefani’s win on court No. 4 put Idaho in front, but a loss from Spataro gave the Aggies new life. Luckily for Idaho, sophomore Marta Magalhaes hung tough with Rhoda Tanui, winning 6-4, 6-3 on court No. 5, giving the Vandals the victory.
Idaho will take a week break before taking on the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Oregon March 1.
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected]