Women's Tennis | 10/17/2016
ALBEQUERQUE—The Idaho Vandals began the 2016 fall season at the ITA Mountain Regional hosted at the University of New Mexico.
Freshman
Shion Watabe led the group of Vandals going 4-1 over the weekend. Watabe dropped her first match, 6-3, 7-5, to Weber State's Tereze Pilzova. The first-year player dropped down into the consolation draw, advancing all the way to the consolation finals. Watabe met Utah State's Monika Van De Vondel in the championship match, winning the bracket in a tight 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-4 battle.
"I thought it was a good tournament for us," head coach
Abid Akbar said. "Shion, the freshman, coming back after the opening loss to go on and win four straight matches was inspiring to see."
Sophomore
Maria Tavares had early success in the main draw. She got wins over New Mexico State's Gabby Joyce (7-5, 6-0) and BYU's Polina Malykh (6-2, 0-6, 7-6(4)) to advance to the round of 16. Tavares then faced Utah's Margo Pletcher, dropping the match, 6-2, 6-3.
"Overall, I was happy with the way the team played," Akbar noted. "It was tough having only one coach there for us. It is not the most ideal situation but the team adjusted well and I was happy with how they fought."
Junior
Lucia Badillos scored a 6-2, 6-2 first-round victory over Northern Colorado's Courtney Shulte. Badillos dropped her second-round match against Utah State's Nini Guenlser. Senior
Claire Yang finished the tournament 1-2, with a consolation win over Montana State's Jessica Brycki. Senior
Ana Batiri was on the wrong side of her two matches.
Idaho fielded two doubles pairings for the tournament. Batiri and Yang played together, while Tavares and Badillos formed the second pairing. Batiri and Yang fell in their lone match, 8-6. Tavares and Badillos made it out of the round of 64 with a 8-5 win over Utah. The duo fell to a team from Air Force, 8-2, to close the tournament.
The Silver and Gold are back in action next month at Gonzaga. The team will play in the Gonzaga Individual Tournament, set for Nov. 4-6.
Stay up-to-date on all things Idaho women's tennis by following the team on Twitter @IdahoWTennis.
