The Idaho men’s tennis team will play its last three regular season matches this weekend and two of them will have Western Athletic Conference Tournament implications.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Cesar Torres follows through with a backhand shot during practice Monday at the Memorial Gym tennis courts. Idaho hosts UTSA and Denver Friday and Sunday respectively. With a pair of wins, the Vandals can win the WAC regular season title outright.
If the weather cooperates, all three matches will be played in Moscow. The Vandals take on Texas-San Antonio at 5 p.m. on Friday. They will also play Denver and Community College of Spokane at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively on Sunday.
UTSA and Denver are both WAC opponents. Denver is second in the conference standings behind Idaho with a 4-0 conference record and 8-11 overall. UTSA is third with a 2-1 conference record. The Roadrunners are 11-10 overall.
If Idaho wins both matches, they will be 6-0 in conference play and will earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament on April 26-28. If the Vandals win one out of the two, they will earn a No. 2 seed. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 seed will have a bye on the first day of competition during the championships.
Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said the bye would be “very beneficial” for the team, which is still trying to get healthy. He said he is still unsure how much senior Marius Cirstea, who injured his knee on April 1 in the match against Texas-Arlington, will play this weekend. Cirstea played in both doubles and singles before the injury, but whether he does so against UTSA and Denver remains to be seen, Beaman said.
Cirstea will compete in his last regular season match as a Vandal along with seniors Abid Akbar, Filip Fichtel, Ivan Krijanto and Jake Knox. These seniors have contributed to the program going 74-34 for the last four years, with this year’s team on pace to be the most successful with 23 wins.
Beaman said he is proud of the way the seniors have influenced the program.
“It’s been a great year and the seniors have been a big part of it,” Beaman said. “They’ve been a big part of the success. The program’s gotten a lot better, sort of reached new heights in their time here.”
Akbar, who has consistently played in the lineup since he was a freshman in 2009, said he is thankful for his time with the program.
“It’s been a great four years,” Akbar said. “It’s gone by really fast too. I wish I had a few more years. If I had another chance I probably would have worked a little harder my first couple years and gotten more out of it, but no regrets. I thank coach Jeff. It’s been a pleasure.”
Akbar said he would like to end his career with a conference championship, which is why he said it is important that the team stays healthy the next two weeks.
“I think most importantly we need to stay fit,” Akbar said. “Some guys are hurt. We need to take care of our bodies. That’s the key right now. Everybody’s played enough tennis, they’re not going to forget in the last two weeks, so it’s important to stay fit and just take these last two matches to even go up a notch to get the best out of ourselves.”
Cirstea said that if the team concentrates on playing like it has all year, the Vandals should be prepared come WAC Tournament time.
“I think we just have to keep the same focus because we lost only five matches and all of them were super close,” Cirstea said. “All the five matches could have gone either way. So, if we keep the same focus I think this year we have a team good enough to win the WAC championship.”
Anthony Kuipers can be reached at [email protected]