Three matches of tennis is a lot for one weekend, but the Vandal women handled it well. Idaho dominated Seattle University and Portland State, and lost a hard-fought battle against Montana.
The action started Friday when Idaho played Seattle. The Vandals did not waste any time getting to work, beating the Redhawks 6-1.
“We came out and we played the top two teams in their doubles line-up and beat them no problem,” coach Daniel Pollock said.
The women carried that momentum into singles play and won all but one of their matches. The only loss started at 10:30 p.m. when a tired Alejandra Lozano lost at the No. 5 position.
“Overall it was good for us. Seattle is just so scrappy and they get in such good position and they make tons of balls and never stop trying,” Pollock said. “I was pretty pleased to put that one away. I was a little nervous going into that one.”
The Vandals then had Saturday to rest and prepare for what they knew would be a tough Sunday of tennis. First on the slate was a regional match up against Montana Sunday morning.
Pollock said the team won all four doubles matches comfortably and that Idaho looked strong.
“Our No. 1 doubles team beat their team 8-4 and that’s the No. 3 ranked team in the region so that’s a big win for us,” Pollock said.
The Vandals again carried momentum from their doubles wins into singles competition.
“We were actually ahead on all four courts at one point, like big in the first sets,” Pollock said.
Vicki Lozano suffered a small injury, but was able to play through it. However, she fell short 6-4, 6-4. At the No. 2 spot, Almudena Sanz and Alejandra Lozano won their matches. Sophie Vickers, at the No. 4 spot, lost after serving for the match and Betty Flores lost at the No. 6 position.
After these matches, the overall score was 3-3 with just one match still in progress. No. 3 Molly Knox, who played the deciding match in last year’s contest against Montana. She lost 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 this year but Pollock said the quality of play was unbelievably high in a match that took more than four hours to finish.
“These girls were going at it from the start, blow for blow, really going at it hard and it was just so close and it was a shame there had to be a loser in that one,” Pollock said.
He said he and the whole team were proud of Knox and after the match and some time to reflect, Knox said she was happy with her own performance.
“She played the best tennis I have ever seen her play and that is huge for her confidence and she understood after the match that she played really well and for the rest of the season that looks good,” Pollock said.
The Vandals did not have much time to reflect on the loss because they had return to the court to face Portland State, a team Pollock said is a lot like Seattle.
The Vandals appeared to have put the morning’s loss behind them as they beat Portland State 7-0 but Pollock said the Vikings put up a good fight.
“They came out firing, they got in our faces, and with only five girls, they knew they needed all the matches so they were even more motivated,” Pollock said.
Pollock said even after nearly six hours, their level of play shined through.
“I pulled Molly (Knox) and Bety (Flores) out of the line-up and the rest of the girls pulled through and we got through that PSU match without too many blemishes and got off the court,” Pollock said.
He said it was nice to be able to get right back on the court after a loss and get a win.
“You don’t have any time to think about the loss. You just have to get back out there and play and that’s what the girls did,” Pollock said.
It was a good weekend overall for Idaho and Pollock said even though people may say Idaho should have beat Montana, there were too many bright points from the match for him to be disappointed by the result.
The Vandals will take what they can from the weekend and have a week to reflect on it before facing Gonzaga Feb. 3, a team Pollock said is a lot like Montana.
“They have a really even team where they don’t really have any superstars but they have a really solid, deep line up of tough players thanks to some great recruiting by their new coach” Pollock said.