Men's Tennis | 10/31/2016
SPOKANE, Wash.—Idaho men's tennis concluded its fall season at the Bulldog Classic in Spokane. The team's doubles play highlighted tournament for the second week in a row. The pair of
Mark Kovacs and
Carlos Longhi Neto went undefeated, winning the tournament's doubles title.
Kovacs and Longhi Neto went 4-0 in the doubles bracket to close their fall season. The pair earned a first-round bye, opening play in the round of 16. They defeated Portland's Felix Fan and Ethan Ogard in a tight 8-7(3) match to advance. In quarterfinal play the team dispatched of Seattle U's Matt Alderson and Trenton Neild, 8-2. The semifinals matched the Idaho pair up with Montana's Peter Mimnagh-Flemming and Victory Casadevall. The Vandals took the all-Big Sky match, 8-5 advancing to the finals where they defeated yet another Montana paring, 8-4.
"Overall it was a great weekend," head coach
Abid Akbar explained. "It was a great way to end the fall season. Mark and Carlos winning this week at Gonzaga after previously winning at EWU just shows how good of a team they are. To be honest they are not playing their best right now either. I know they can play at a lot higher level than they did last week. That gives me so much confidence. They can make some improvements and become an even stronger team."
The team of
Guilherme Scarpelli and
Kooper Krow fell in the dropped down to the consolation bracket, following an opening round loss. The pair bounced back with two consolation wins, advancing to the finals. Idaho was unable to complete the run, falling in the consolation final to Portland State's Nathan Boneil and Tommy Edwards, 6-2. Idaho's pair of
Esteban Santibanez and
Lucas Couthinho finished the tournament 1-1.
Kovacs was one of Idaho's top singles players on the weekend. He opened up play with a 7-6(3), 6-3) win over Seattle U's John Stormans. The junior then defeated Gonzaga's Vincent Rettke in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals. He went up against Boniel, the eventual A flight champions, dropping the match 6-1, 7-5.
Longhi Neto and Santibanez each earned first round wins to advance to the round of 16. Both players would be ousted, ending the weekend 1-1.
"I feel like we have a lot of depth as a team," Akbar noted. "Our No. 6 six guy will beat our No. 1 guy in practice. We do not know exactly who will play where in the spring, but the guys in the lower part of the lineup are very close to the guys in the top of the lineup. That is a great sign. Our bottom guys are really surprising me with their consistency."
Scarpelli and Crow represented Idaho in the B flight. Both players went 0-1 in the main draw, dropping down to the consolation bracket.
