The Idaho women’s tennis team wrapped up a weekend road trip to Las Vegas with the first outdoor matches of the spring season.
After hours of intense play and three meetings in two days, the Vandals ended the weekend with a pair of victories to improve their record at 6-4 overall.
Idaho began the trip by defeating Youngstown State 6-1 on Friday to extend the team’s win streak to four games. Idaho coach Mariana Cobra said winning in doubles was one of her goals to accomplish in Las Vegas.
“Recently, we have put a lot of focus on the doubles point,” Cobra said. “To have the last four doubles points is definitely an improvement. It shows that we are starting to translate what we are doing in practice to our matches.”
Rita Bermudez and Maria Tavares got things going for the Vandals, as the pair earned a 6-3 win over Annina Brendel and Noëlly Longi Nismba from the No. 2 court.
Youngstown State bounced back with Dominka Lackova and Sofia Macias claiming a 6-4 victory over Belen Barcenilla and Marianna Petrei on the No. 1 court.
The Vandals earned the doubles point when Lucia Badillos and Ana Batiri defeated Julianna Heino and Nehel Sahni 7-6 (3-0) in a hard fought match on the No. 3 court.
From there, Idaho won five of their six singles matches, which included a two-set 6-0, 6-0 sweep by Petrei over Brendel.
Bermudez clinched the win for Idaho after defeating Lackova 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 on the No. 2 court.
Cobra said she was thrilled with the team’s performance outdoors after the team opened the season on indoor courts.
“It was great to get a win in our first outdoor match of the season,” Cobra said. “We were more disciplined today and played smarter in the important points.”
The Vandals had difficulty carrying the momentum into Saturday, as the team was shut out by UNLV in a 4-0 loss.
Idaho would respond to the loss by handing Southern Utah a 6-1 defeat to wrap up the weekend in Las Vegas.
Cobra said their loss against UNLV in doubles proved difficult for Idaho to overcome, but she said she was pleased of how the team was able to brush it off and earn a second Big Sky Conference win of the season.
“We had our chances in doubles against UNLV,” Cobra said. “It is tough going down 1-0 to a solid team like UNLV. We were able to bounce back and stay focused against Southern Utah.”
Bermudez and Tavares made business quick on Saturday by defeating Southern Utah’s Evgenia Marushko and Teresa De Enrique 5-4 on the No. 2 court.
The Vandals won all three of their matches in doubles against the Thunderbirds.
In singles play, the Vandals won five matches, including Barcenilla sweeping Megan Bell 6-0 in both sets on the No. 5 court which provided momentum for Idaho.
Batiri defeated De Enrique 6-2, 6-0 on the No. 3 court to clinch Idaho’s second win of the weekend.
The Vandals will travel back to the Evergreen State for two matches. The team is scheduled to face Utah State Friday at 2 p.m. in Pullman, and Gonzaga the following day in Spokane.
Cobra said her goal is for the team to perform strong for the remainder of the season.
“Our goal is to keep improving every match,” Cobra said. “We want to make sure we peak at the right time and I think we are in good position to do so.”
Luis Torres can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheLTFiles