Friday couldn’t have been more perfect for Idaho men’s tennis. The Vandals swept the day’s competition, beating Hawaii 4-3 and Utah State 6-1 in Logan, Utah, to end the regular season 13-13 and 3-2 in WAC play.
Between March 10 and 24, Idaho didn’t win a match in seven attempts and was outscored 34 to 13. Idaho Director of Tennis Jeff Beaman said near the end of March, a No. 5 or 6 seed for the WAC Championship was a realistic goal. His team had other ideas.
“Was hoping to not get the six seed, but I thought that the five seed was pretty realistic … the way that the team was performing and their mental state mid-year,” Beaman said.
From the last day of March to Friday, Idaho won five straight, all on the road, outscoring opponents 26 to 9. The result — a No. 2 seed at the WAC Championship April 27 to 29 in Las Cruces, N.M.
Beaman said to the best of his knowledge, it is the highest the Idaho men have ever finished in the WAC.
“Today is a great day for Idaho tennis,” Beaman said. “To clinch second place in the conference is a huge step for our program. Our guys just kept battling through a tough day of tennis and I’m proud of our whole team.”
Idaho started each match by sweeping the doubles point. The Warriors proved to be more difficult despite the Aggies playing at home. Hawaii stole three singles points from Idaho, but was not able to secure the win.
“Hawaii is a better team,” Beaman said. “We tied them for second in the conference and we’ll get the second seed based on the head to head. They’re definitely one of the strongest teams in the conference… ”
The Vandals finished the day dominating Utah State, 6-1. The only loss of the match came at the No. 1 spot where Aggie Sven Poslusny defeated Marius Cirstea 6-4, 6-3.
On the day, Vandal Abid Akbar at the No. 2 spot did not lose a match and outscored his opponents 40-15 throughout singles and doubles competition, with the help of doubles teammate Andrew Dobbs.
“I wanted to finish the regular season strong and I worked hard for it and thankfully I was able to pull it off and help the team,” Akbar said.
Beaman said Idaho wins a bye in the first round as a result of the No. 2 seed and will likely play the winner of Hawaii against Utah State. He said he’d rather draw any team besides the two, and No. 1 Fresno State.
“Sometimes, you beat somebody and it just mentally can be tough to come back a week later and play them again,” Beaman said.
The Championship is more than a week after playing the Warriors and Aggies, but will have no competition in between. Beaman said the team will prepare for fast courts and intense tennis.
“We’re going to get some leg conditioning in. Work on some guys that are a little banged up, getting healthy,” Beaman said. “Almost every day it’s (Las Cruces courts) windy. It’s fast conditions. Which it would be ideal if we got some nice sunny weather and also some wind.”
Idaho will use the 10 days until the start of the championship and its second round game to prepare for its highest entry into the WAC Championship.
Nick Groff can be reached [email protected]