The Vandals men’s and women’s tennis teams were back in action this weekend for one game each. The men continued their stint on the road, while the women were back in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome for a third consecutive weekend.
Women’s Tennis
The Vandals hosted the Eastern Washington Eagles in their first game of Big Sky Conference play. UI was hoping to extend their six-game winning streak and beat the Eagles for the fourth consecutive time.
The Vandals started hot by sweeping in doubles. Selin Sepken and Chenyue Xu delivered the best performance by winning 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 with a win margin of five. UI jumped out to the early 1-0 lead as the match shifted to singles.
Each team won three sets in singles, which resulted in a 4-3 overall win for UI to open conference play with and extend their winning streak. Diana Khaydarshina had a strong performance, only needing two sets to defeat her EWU counter 6-2, 6-2. Valentina Rodas was the only other Vandal whose match lasted two sets, winning 6-3, 7-5.
The other four remaining matches went through three sets, including two where the third was only played to 1-0. Lena Beckx fell to Zoe Pradel 6-3, 5-7, 0-1 (7-10 tiebreak) and Olivia Marais of EWU took down Chenyue Xu 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8 tiebreak).
After the matches, Head Coach Sanne Louwers gathered the team on the first court and told them she saw an “overall positive mindset” and that there were “a lot of ways we can win.” She also said the players showed a lot of character and fought. Her final message was to “keep on working,” which they will be doing against Portland State this Sunday.
The game will be back in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome starting at 11 a.m. on March 9, which can also be seen on ESPN+.
Men’s Tennis:
The Vandals were back on the road up north in Spokane for a matchup with the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Like the women, they won by a final margin of 4-3 to snap a two-game losing skid and get back in the win column.
Starting in doubles, the men were swept, allowing Gonzaga to jump out in an early 1-0 lead. They fell 6-2, 6-2, which the third which wasn’t finished. They trailed 4-2, showing that doubles seemed to be a struggle area for the team.
The team made up for it by winning four of the six singles matches to take the overall victory. Francisco Gay, Chetanna Amadike, Sebastian Medica and Eric Wang were the victors for the Vandals. Medica and Wang each won their respective matches in two sets while the others took a full three. Medica, Gay, Amadike and Yu-Shun Lai all had at least one set with a tiebreaker involved. Gay and Medica won theirs, while Amadike and Lai did not.
The men’s team will return home to the P1FCU Kibbie Dome this week for the first time since Feb. 15. They will start the weekend against the team they played in their last home match, the EWU Eagles. Then they will face off against the PSU Vikings, also at home.
The EWU game will be at 4 p.m. on Friday while the PSU match is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Jackson Hamelund can be reached at [email protected]