The Idaho men’s tennis team looks to continue its successful fall season as it enters its first tournament action in over a month.
The Vandals traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to take part in the ITA Mountain Regional, hosted by New Mexico, Wednesday to Sunday. The tournament is composed of athletes from 12 different colleges, including Big Sky Conference foe Northern Arizona and in-state rival Boise State.
The tournament kicked off Wednesday morning and will continue throughout the weekend, culminating in championship play Sunday morning.
The Vandals are looking to build upon last month’s success at the Eastern Washington Fall Classic, where a pair of Vandals opened up the season strong.
Sophomore Mark Kovacs finished with a 3-1 singles record at the Eastern Washington tournament, and narrowly lost the Red Flight championship in a tiebreaking set.
Meanwhile, senior Jackson Varney began the fall season on a hot streak, winning three straight matches at Eastern Washington to emerge victorious in the Red Flight consolation bracket. This came after he lost in the opening round.
Kovacs and Jackson are just two of four Vandals who earned opening-day byes at the ITA Mountain Regional. The pair joins senior Odon Barta and freshman Peter Shin in securing an extra day’s rest at the tournament.
Kovacs is scheduled to begin singles play in the second round against Jorge Escutia of New Mexico, while Varney will face Jakob Gewert of Washington State in a battle of Palouse opponents.
On the other side of the bracket, Barta opens up singles play against Strahinja Treckakov of New Mexico State. Shin is also scheduled to begin play in the second round against Big Sky opponent Adi Zilberstein of Northern Arizona.
The Vandals have entered three pairs in doubles play at the ITA Mountain Regional.
Kovacs and Varney combined to reach the finals of the main draw in the EWU Fall Classic, narrowly falling to a second-seeded Gonzaga pair.
Kovacs and Varney are set to face Utah State’s Romai Ugarte and Javier Araya in the first round of tournament play this weekend.
The ITA Mountain Regional is one of the largest tournaments that the Vandals will enter this fall season, providing an opportunity for the team to gain some valuable experience after withdrawing from the Dar Walters Boise State Fall Classic earlier this month.
The winners of the ITA Mountain Regional singles and doubles championship will travel to Flushing, New York, to face other regional winners in a 32-player singles draw and 20-team doubles draw Nov. 6-9.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom