The Vandal men’s tennis team started the season off – with a 7-0 win over Eastern Washington on Sunday in Cheney.
It’s the fourth year in a row Idaho has played Eastern Washington as part of its nonconference schedule and it’s the fourth time in a row Idaho has walked away with a victory. The Vandals will try to keep the wins coming on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 when they travel to Eugene, Ore., where they will face Nevada and DePaul.
Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said it was a solid performance by his team, especially since Eastern put up a fight.
“It was a really good match,” Beaman said. “It’s nice to get the win and it’s also nice to get pushed. We were pushed from start. Eastern came out fired up to play and was excited. They came out going for it and really pushed us.”
The only match Idaho dropped against Eastern was at No. 3 doubles when the Eagles’ Arturo Carpio and Eduardo Bringold won a close 8-6 match. The Vandals won the next two doubles matches, including that of nationally-ranked duo Abid Akbar and Marius Cirstea who came out on top 8-6, to take the first point of the day.
In singles, Akbar, ranked seventh in the Mountain Region, went untouched at the No. 1 spot, winning in straight sets. Beaman said he was impressed with the way Akbar came out.
“Abid was really impressive,” Beaman said. “They got a really strong guy, and Abid went out and took care of business in doubles and singles.”
Idaho’s Dmitry Perevoshchikov dropped one set at the No. 2 spot, but responded in the third to take the win. In the No. 3 matchup, Eastern’s Tomas Aranguiz took the first set off Cirstea, but that was all he got as Cirstea went on to take the next two sets and the match.
“There were a few guys that took care of business, but a lot of the matches were close.” Beaman said. “I mostly thought that we’d win easier. I thought it would be a lot more, but that little bit of adversity was nice.”
Overall the Vandals looked solid all the way around and easily beat the Eagles to kick off the season. While some of the matches were close, everything came together for the Vandals to get the opening day sweep.
Beaman said a couple of the players were battling some injuries and said he hopes the break between matches will help his team heal and continue to improve, especially for opponents as tough as DePaul and Nevada.
“We have to continue to play matches against each other and get match tough,” Beaman said. “We have to get healthy as well. Going into a tough doubleheader, I need my top guys healthy.”
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]