Idaho tennis plays last fall tournament this weekend
With only one more chance at competition left for Idaho tennis, the men will compete at the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate and the women will travel to the Houston Cougar Classic this weekend.
Seven Vandal men will make the trip to Seattle, and Idaho Director of Tennis Jeff Beaman expects several guys to make it to the semis and beyond in the different draws.
“People are physically stronger and mentally tougher than we were starting out so hoping for good results across the board from new guys and from the veterans,” Beaman said.
For most of the team, this is the last competition of the season — but not for all of them. Abid Akbar and Marius Cirstea still have the National Indoor Championships to attend. They won’t get a chance to compete together this weekend, though, since Cirstea is staying home. Akbar will pair up with Cristobal Ramos instead.
The pairing has played together before and put up some solid results, beating University of Washington’s No. 2 pairing and a top team from Oregon.
Beaman said judging by the dominant performance the pairing had when they played against the University of Washington last year, he is looking for good things from Akbar and Ramos this year.
“I think if we both play the same, and I am pretty sure we have both grown as doubles players, I think we have a good shot of even going far in the tournament,” Akbar said.
Akbar said the whole team has improved since last year and everybody is playing well.
“I think everybody is in good shape, we’ve been working on fitness and everything and everybody is fresh with no serious injuries,” Akbar said.
The Idaho women’s team hasn’t been so lucky and has struggled with keeping the whole team healthy and ready to play. This weekend they will only send freshman Rita Bermudez and junior Vicky Lozano to Houston.
They will play doubles together and will each play singles, as well. Idaho Coach Daniel Pollock said it will be a really good measuring stick for where they are at right now.
“If we play well, we have a chance to pull out some big wins against the best teams in the country,” Pollock said.
The Houston Cougar Classic is a high-level tournament with many great teams and ranked players attending. The weather will be much warmer than in Moscow, as the forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-80’s and plenty of humidity.
“We like playing outdoors and we like playing in warm weather so I think it’s only a good thing for us to get that kind of atmosphere,” Pollock said.
Charles Crowley can be reached at [email protected]