Once again, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will leave Moscow and face the best of the best in the NCAA Tournament.
Both teams learned of their fate Tuesday afternoon during the NCAA selection show. Men’s tennis will face No. 2 UCLA in the first round, while the women will travel to Malibu, California to take on No. 13 Pepperdine.
“I was expecting us to go back to Southern California,” said men’s head coach Abid Akbar. “I’m so happy for the boys, because they get to play at a high level of tennis against some great opponents at one of the most prestigious tennis schools in the nation. I think they just earned it.”
Martin Redlicki, the top singles player for UCLA, ranks as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s best college singles player in the nation.
Abid said he expects senior Mark Kovacs, the Vandals’ No. 1 singles player, to rise to the occasion of facing the best player in the country.
“It’s such a great situation for them to be in,” Akbar said. “I’m just so happy for them. They put themselves in this situation with all their hard work. The season can be pretty long and grueling, so they did a good job.”
Kovacs, who helped his team secure the Big Sky title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, said he would give it his all come May 11.
“It should be a fun match. I’m actually excited,” Kovacs said. “We have nothing to lose, so I’ll try to go out, play calm, relax and do the best I can.”
Abid said he believed the key to pulling off the upset would be strong doubles play, something he said he team has excelled at over the season, despite the room for improvement.
I feel like we can actually cause some problems with that,” Abid said. “If we can click at the right time, we can cause some issues.”
The Bruins (26-2) hold 16 national titles under their belt.
The same weekend, Idaho’s women’s team will face Pepperdine (22-2), who punched their ticket to the tournament by snagging the West Coast Conference title. Idaho head coach Babar Akbar, said only a few players on the Vandals’ current roster have faced the Waves.
In 2016, Idaho lost to Pepperdine 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Some of the senior girls have a feel for where we’re going and a feel of what to expect,” Babar said. “It’s a very tough team, it’s a team with a lot of depth. We’re going to go in there looking to play our best and see where it takes us.”
Sophomore Shion Watabe said she is excited for another chance for her and her teammates to showcase their talents and hopefully advance beyond the first round.
“They’re really good,” Watabe said. “Just playing against them is a great opportunity for us, and we’ll just have to leave everything on the court.”
The men will begin play vs. UCLA 12 p.m. May 12 at UCLA and the women will begin vs. Pepperdine May 11 in Malibu, California.
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected]