When sophomore Gabriel Moroder laces up his shoes and steps onto the court for the Idaho Vandals men’s tennis team, he becomes nearly unbeatable.
In his past four matches, Moroder has gone a combined 8-0 between singles and doubles, going 4-0 in both and establishing himself as one of the Vandals’ most dependable players heading into the postseason.
Moroder hails from Ortisei, Italy, and came to the Palouse from the Technical Economic Institute, where he stood out enough to attract the attention of head coach Raleigh Grossbaum. In his freshman year, Moroder had his ups and downs but showed real promise toward the end of the season.
In the 2024-25 season, he went 11-10 in singles, including a 6-5 Big Sky Conference record. He also paired with Noe De Col and went 3-3 in doubles throughout the conference slate. In his final ten matches, Moroder went 6-4, showing the talent and upside that gave him momentum heading into this season.
He returned for his sophomore year paired with senior Chetanna Amadike in doubles and became a prominent singles player for the Vandals. As Idaho’s tough non-conference schedule got underway, Moroder started slowly, going 0-5 in singles and 3-2 in doubles through his first five matches.
He finally got into the win column against Linfield before falling to Boise State the same day, moving his record to 1-6. Moroder then rattled off four consecutive singles wins, pulling his record to 5-6, before dropping a tough match to Montana on March 7. He responded well, reeling off four straight singles wins to push his record to 9-7.
He and Amadike also found their rhythm in doubles, putting together a four-match winning streak that built their record to 7-4 together. In March, outside of his lone loss to Montana Moroder has been virtually unplayable, going 4-0 in both singles and doubles with the precision and consistency that Vandal fans will be hoping carries over into the postseason.
With five matches remaining, Moroder holds a record of 10-7 in singles and 11-4 in doubles, playing his best tennis at the right time as he looks to continue this form down the stretch of Big Sky play and then into the Big Sky tournament on April 23-25.