After losing the doubles point, the Idaho mens tennis team fought back
to win four singles matches and clinch a 4-3 victory over the Sacramento State Hornets Sunday in Lewiston.
No. 67-ranked Idaho is now 6-0 against Big Sky opponents and 20-4 overall. Sacramento State dropped to 14-12. The Vandals have already surpassed their win total of the past two seasons. They won 19 matches in 2011 and 14 in 2012.
Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said hitting the 20-win mark is not surprising given his high expectations of the team at the beginning of the season.
“I honestly felt that if we didn’t win 20 wins, we weren’t living up to our potential,” Beaman said.
In order to reach win No. 20, Idaho needed to fend off a Hornet team that had won 10 of its last 12 matches and currently sits at second place in the Big Sky standings. They did so without talented senior Marius Cirstea. Cirstea suffered an injury during Idaho’s last match, a 4-3 loss to Oklahoma State on April 2. The senior usually plays in the No. 2 or No. 3 singles spot as well as the No. 1 doubles spot with fellow senior Abid Akbar.
Beaman said Cirstea’s absence was notable, especially in doubles.
“Taking him out of the doubles match really makes it a lot harder to clinch that doubles point,” Beaman said.
That was evident when Idaho dropped the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches to dig themselves into an early hole. Senior Ivan Krijanto and freshman Matt Oddonetto lost at No. 3 by a score of 8-5 and sophomore Dmitry Perevoshchikov and Akbar fell 8-5 at No. 1 as well. The highlight for Idaho was the continued success of junior Jose Bendeck and sophomore Cristobal Ramos Salazar at the No. 2 position. Fresh off an upset win over Oklahoma State’s 70th-ranked doubles pairing of Richard Del Nunzio and Denys Pume, they shut out Hornets’ Roy Brandys and Sean Kolar 8-0.
After falling behind, Idaho put together a furious rally by winning four straight singles matches to secure the victory. Akbar lost the first match at No. 2, then Perevoshchikov , Bendeck, Ramos and Krijanto won the preceding No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 matches respectively. Bendeck, filling in for Cirstea, battled to a three-set win as did Krijanto, who clinched the fourth and final win for Idaho. Sophomore Cesar Torres lost at No. 5.
Idaho has yet to lose two matches in a row this season and Beaman said that feat speaks to the team’s toughness.
“It shows that we deal with adversity in a pretty good way,” Beaman said. “Dealing with Marius’ injury, dealing with a loss – it shows our resiliency.”
Idaho will need to continue to show that resiliency this week when the Vandals face Brigham Young University Friday in Spokane. The 16-4 Cougars have beaten seven ranked teams this season including No. 45-ranked Boise State. Idaho is then scheduled to play Lewis-Clark State College at home Saturday evening.
Anthony Kuipers can be reached at arg-sports@uidaho.edu