Coming off a tough three-match weekend road trip in the Southwestern desert, the Vandal men’s tennis team came out ready to play Thursday and was able to end its five-match losing streak defeating Gonzaga 5-2 in Spokane.
“We showed up better for competing,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “It’s nice to get back on the winning side.”
Beaman said being in a familiar, indoor environment also helped the team’s performance on the court.
“We definitely came out stronger,” he said of his No. 2 and 3 doubles pairings, which despite an arm injury to No. 2 doubles competitor Andrew Zedde, were still able to pull out wins at No. 1 and 3 to win the doubles point.
The Vandals won five of the six matches on the singles side of things and Artemiy Nikitin continues a strong resurgence after stumbling out of the gates.
“It’s definitely his best match of the spring” said Beaman of Nikitin’s straight set victory over Gonzaga’s Nick Kamisar. “He played very well against a very good player.”
The Vandals will be on the court once again on Saturday as they face WAC newcomer Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday back at Spokane, Wash. UMKC has won its conference and has competed in the NCAA Tournament each the last three years.
“It’s really critical to have confidence going into the match against UMKC,” Beaman said. “We need to continue to prepare to have a chance against them this Saturday.”
Josh Gamez can be reached at [email protected]