Laura Spataro is a junior exercise science major and captain of the Idaho women’s tennis team. Spataro grew up in Volpago del Montello, Italy, where she first picked up a racket at age five and decided to give it a swing.
“My dad played a little bit. I didn’t really have a sport and I just gave it a shot,” Spataro said. “He asked me if I wanted to give it a try, and I said okay.”
She started her first tennis lessons at a club and moved to a larger one as her skills improved. Spataro stayed at that club until after high school, when she committed to the University of Idaho.
Spataro chose to play for Idaho because of the connection she had with former Idaho tennis player Marianna Petrei, who helped Head Coach Babar Akbar recruit Spataro.
“I asked (Petrei) if she knew any good kids in her region, and she said there was this one kid. What happened was, she sent me a shaky cam video of her (Spataro) playing for about two minutes, and then I asked (Petrei) what she thought. She said she’s (Spataro) a good kid that works and plays hard. I skyped with (Spataro), and within a couple of weeks I had offered her a spot,” Akbar said.
Before becoming a Vandal, Spataro had multiple first and second place finishes in Italy. She claimed the doubles title at the International Pre-Qualification of Italy in 2017, took top honors at the Second Category LIM 2.6 and placed second at the Open Camposampiero Tournament in 2016.
As a freshman, Spataro picked up 17 wins and went 10-1 in Big Sky Conference (BSC) play, scoring the point that would win the BSC for the Vandals. She played with then senior Lucia Badillos and the duo finished with a 9-3 record. In her sophomore season, she recorded 16 wins with nine singles wins and an 8-1 record in the BSC, awarding her a Big Sky Second Team Selection. Spataro won seven doubles matches with current teammate senior Maggie Chen and former teammate Anna Stefani.
The current season is getting underway with the first three matches having been played. Spataro has picked up her first win of the season in doubles against Gonzaga University. With a total of 43 career wins, 24 single wins and 19 doubles wins, Spataro hopes to keep adding to her total throughout this season and the next.
“I want to be the best player I can for my team, and I will try to win as many matches as I can this semester. As a team, our goal will be to win the Big Sky and finish our regular season in the top three,” Spataro said.
As the current leader of the team, Spataro has more responsibility to lead an experienced group. One of Spataro’s teammates, senior civil engineering major Shion Watabe, has been playing with Spataro for three years.
“If there is anything I need to talk about, Laura is someone I would go to because I know she’s responsible and I can trust her. On the court, I know that she’s gonna put her best foot in and give it 100 percent no matter what. Laura’s just really responsible and someone everyone can rely on, which is very nice,” Watabe said.
Coach Akbar spoke on the leadership qualities that he wants to see in Spataro and how that will help the team for the rest of the season.
“You can’t put a price on how important it is and invaluable, because she knows how to win, knows what it takes to compete at this level. In her growth and as a coach, I want to see how she influences other teammates,” Akbar said. “Her work ethic is great, her leadership qualities are going to be very important, but I think the real challenge for Laura is when she charges, that she gets the others to charge with her and that will come with time. Overall, I think she is the ideal captain with a great personality, and everyone respects her.”
Spataro and her teammates play their next game on the road against the University of Oregon on Feb. 7. Spataro will not be looking into playing professionally, but will look to graduate with an undergrad in exercise science and move back to Italy.
Armin Mesinovic can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @arminmesinovic