Idaho men’s tennis faced another back to back Saturday and Sunday to prove that they are the favorites in the Big Sky conference.
Idaho vs Southern Utah
After a loss on Thursday, Idaho men’s tennis rebounded well Saturday with a 5-2 win over Southern Utah.
Opening up doubles play, senior Felipe Fonseca and sophomore Guilherme Scarpelli gave Idaho an early 6-2 win. Senior Mark Kovacs and junior Carlos Longhi Neto kept the winning ways going by taking the doubles point at No. 1 with a 6-4 win.
The Vandals hot streak continued at the start of singles play.
Junior Lucas Coutinho hits the ball during Senior Day against Eastern Washington University at the Idaho Tennis Courts Wednesday.
Fonseca gave Idaho their first singles win, while playing at the No. 3 spot for the first time this season winning 7-6, and 6-1 over Southern Utah’s Conor Tordoff. Kovacs clinched a career 94th by 6-3, and 7-5 at No. 1 to give the Vandals a 3-0 lead. Kovacs is now one win away before tying the most wins in program history. On the No. 4 court, junior Lucas Coutinho clinched the match for the Vandals with a win over Southern Utah’s Guy Feigin.
Scarpelli moved to No. 2 for the first time this season and gave Idaho another win to add to the scoring.
Idaho is now 8-1 in conference play and clinched a tournament berth to join Weber State and Northern Arizona as guaranteed teams to be in the tournament.
Idaho vs Idaho State
Idaho men’s tennis continued winning ways during the second of a back to back Sunday with a 5-2 win over Idaho State.
After doubles play, Idaho jumped to a 1-0 lead behind strong play by sophomore Guilherme Scarpelli and senior Felipe Fonseca in a 6-1 win at No. 3. Senior Mark Kovacs and junior Carlos Longhi Neto clinched another point for Idaho after winning 6-4 at No.1.
Idaho State made things interesting to begin singles play to even up the score when Longhi Neto was force to retire from the match at No. 2 Fonseca got things back on track for the Vandals by winning his 13th match of the season over Idaho State’s Adam Hornby at No. 3. Kovacs tied for most career wins in program history in a straight set win. Scarpelli gained his 11th win of the season at No. 4 after dropping his first set to win in three.
Idaho State won at No. 6 while junior Lucas Coutinho battled with Idaho State’s Keegan Sullivan in a super tiebreaker at the end of the day.
The Vandals moved one step closer to gaining the conference number one seed and will finish Big Sky play with Eastern Washington Wednesday before the Big Sky Championship on Sunday.
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @Cderemer_VN.