The Idaho Vandals men’s tennis team started conference play strong with two home wins over Idaho State 5-2 and Sacramento State 7-0 to move them to 2-0 in the Big Sky.
The Vandals looked to bounce back after losing all three matches at the Boise State tournament, dropping matches to Boise State University, University of Gonzaga and the University of Montana.
Idaho State
The Vandals returned to the P1FCU Kibbie Dome and welcomed in-state rival Idaho State to begin their 2026 conference slate. Idaho got off to a flying start taking all three doubles matches. Junior Mikolaj Lis and freshman Sander Paradis started it off with a 7-6 victory over ISU duo senior Valentino De Pellegrin and sophomore Luka Vujacic.
The Vandals then turned to Big Sky co-player of the week, senior Chetanna Amadike, and his partner, sophomore Gabriel Moroder, and they rolled to a 7-5 victory over sophomore Sep de Visser and senior Quentin Lamothe.
The Vandals completed the doubles sweep as sophomores Paul Janson and Eric Wang took the court and flourished to a 6-4 victory over senior Tyler Dalos and sophomore Lewie Bouman to give the Vandals all the momentum going into singles play.
The Vandals continued their dominance as Amadike took the court versus De Pellegrin. Amadike has had a breakout season and has put himself into contention as one of the best players in the conference. He showed all of that as he rolled to a 6-5, 7-5 victory over De Pellegrin to give Idaho a 2-0 lead.
The Bengals got on the scoreboard when de Visser bested Wang 6-3, 6-2 and cut the Vandals lead. Lis extended the Vandals lead as he defeated sophomore Sam Wensley 6-2, 7-6. Moroder put the Vandals on the brink of victory as he defeated sophomore Hayden Ciguenza 6-2, 6-4.
Idaho State did not quit, and Vujacic battled to a 6-3, 4-3 victory. Wang closed the match out, defeating redshirt freshman Rafael Maya 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (14-12) to seal the 5-2 win.
Sacramento State
The Vandals returned to the Kibbie Dome the next day and took on Sacramento State and dominated from start to finish. Idaho swept doubles, with Lis and Paradis, Amadike and Moroder, and Janson and Wang all getting victories to get the Vandals off to a great start.
Amadike brought his weekend to 4-0 with a three-set victory over sophomore Martin Duris. He started strong with a 6-4 first set victory. Duris responded with a 6-3 victory to tie the match, bringing it to a huge third set.
The two battled it out exchanging points and in the end Amadike got the 6-4 victory to put the Vandals up 2-0. Janson and Lis followed that up with 6-2, 6-3 and 6-3, 7-6 victories to give the Vandals a 4-0 lead.
Moroder, Wang and freshman Xavier Martin Roca closed out the Hornets with three straight victories and the Vandals improved to 8-10, 2-0 in the Big Sky.
Idaho will look to keep their great start to conference play when they host the Montana schools this weekend. The Vandals will first take on the Montana Grizzlies on Friday, March 20, at noon. They will then take the Kibbie Dome courts for the final time this season and host the Montana State Bobcats on Saturday, March 21, at noon.