After a 5-2 win over Gonzaga on Thursday, the Vandal men’s tennis team rolled over Missouri-Kansas City 6-1 to win both weekend matches in Spokane. This two-game win was much needed, after the Vandals went 0-5 during a trip to the Southwestern desert last weekend. The victory over UMKC improves Idaho to 5-6 on the season.
“They played hard and they gave a good effort,” Idaho coach Art Hoomiratana said.
The Vandals pulled off the win despite being without sophomore Andrew Zedde — who is nursing an elbow injury sustained against Gonzaga.
“We are going to take a look at him early in the week and make a determination,” Hoomiratana said, regarding Zedde’s status going forward.
The Vandals fared fine without Zedde on Saturday, as they won five of the six singles matches in straight sets over UMKC. Idaho was led by senior Artimey Nikitin and his dismantling of UMKC freshman Mike Psarros at No. 1 singles.
The trend continued as Idaho junior Cristobal Ramos Salazar and senior Jose Bendeck brought strong singles wins with victories over freshman Vinh Pham and senior Tomas Patino of Kansas City respectively. The Vandal duo also came away victorious at the No. 1 doubles spot over Psarros and Patino.
Idaho sophomore Odon Barta and junior Cesar Torres were also victorious over sophomore Andrey Smirnov and junior Connor Edwards, all in straight sets in singles play.
With Zedde being out of play, the Vandals made a few changes in the doubles play. Nikitin, Zedde’s usual doubles partner, teamed up with sophomore Matt Oddonetto to defeat Kansas City’s Connor Edwards and Pham 8-3 at No. 2 doubles. At No. 3, Barta, who is Oddonetto’s usual partner, teamed up with senior Filip Fichtel to best the UMKC duo of Daniel De Zamacona and Uldis Gaismins 8-5, to finish the doubles sweep.
The Vandals will not be in action again until Friday when they travel to Logan, Utah, to face off against former-WAC foe Utah State.
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]