The Idaho women’s tennis team finished the Bulldog Classic over the weekend, which concluded the fall season as a team, half of which are seniors.
Senior Almudena Sanz finished 3-1 in the top singles flight defeating Sabine Preda of Portland State 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, Rana Sherif Ahmen of Fresno State 6-3, 7-6 (9) and Jasmine Minor of Oregon 6-3, 7-5.
Senior Victoria Lozano finished 2-2 with a win against Petra Jerova and Dan Voster of Portland State but also dropped two matches in singles to Sophi Watts of Fresno State and Jasmine Minor of Oregon.
In doubles, Lozano and Sanz, who got to know each other’s game last year often playing together at No. 1 doubles, went 2-1 in the tournament to reach the finals of the top flight. The two defeated Fresno State freshmen Claire Yang and Sofya Malysheva in the quarterfinals, Cal Poly seniors Jen Cornea and Ane McPike in the semifinals but narrowly missed the final match against the Fresno State doubles team of Watts and Ahmen.
“They’ve been really consistent and they know how to play together really well right now. They know each other, they’re really confident and they’ve really been really taking their doubles game together to the next level,” Idaho coach Myriam Sopel said. “I think this weekend they really improved and worked on a new combination, we had really good results and I’m pleased with that doubles combination.”
Sophomore Rita Bermudez and freshman Galina Bykova, also made it to the Doubles A quarterfinals before being defeated by the Oregon doubles team of Minor and Nicole Long.
“Galina has been dealing with some shin splints — so it hasn’t been easy for her. She’s been on and off practice but she was back this week, she played really well, consistent tennis with some tough matches and good competition,” Sopel said. “She really fits in with the team really well and she’s really embracing the experience as a freshman student athlete on the learning curve and being ready for the spring.”
Doubles play was a strongpoint of the tournament for the Vandals with players in doubles pairings going a combined 25-14 overall. With the Bulldog Classic in the books and the fall season coming to a close, the team of returning veterans will prepare for the spring season.
Half the team are seniors in Sanz, Lozano, Bety Flores and Alejandra Lozano, the team’s strongest players entering their final year. This is the time for the Vandals to make the push for the title in the Spring with a lot of experience under their belts and raw talent.
The Vandals finished last year with an overall record of 13-12 and 5-4 against conference opponents. The fifth-seeded Vandals made it to the WAC Championship but lost to top-seeded Denver in the semi-finals.
“The objective for the spring is to win WAC and get the automatic ranked schedule for nationals. I really think we can get to the end of WAC. I don’t want to look too far forward, I want to look one step at a time and work hard, but this team is talented and we have a lot of potential,” Sopel said. “Everybody knows right now that we’re working towards a bigger objective.”
Sopel has high expectations for her team to do something that has never been done before in school history.
“I really believe that we can take our game to the next level and make it to the end of WAC, take the title and make it to nationals for the first time ever,” Sopel said.
Aaron Wolfe can be reached at [email protected]