STANFORD, Calif.—Idaho women's tennis makes its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance on Saturday. The Vandals will take on defending 2016 NCAA Champion Stanford at 1 p.m. PT., at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Idaho (16-7, 10-1 Big Sky) won its third straight Big Sky title with a 4-3 win over No. 1 Northern Arizona. The Vandals have four consecutive conference championships, leaving the Western Athletic Conference as champions after the 2014 season.
The Vandals earned a slat of postseason honors, headlined by sophomore
Marianna Petrei. The Udine, Italy, native, was voted Big Sky MVP for the second consecutive season. She was an impressive 10-0 at the No. 1 position, improving to 21-0 in conference play for her career. Junior
Lucia Badillos joined Petrei on the First Team. Sophomore
Maria Tavares was voted to the Second Team and freshman
Jessica Brzozowska earned Honorable Mention.
Idaho also excelled in doubles play this season. Petrei and Badillos were voted as one of the three First Team selections. Tavares and
Ana Batiri were added to the Second Team.
No. 7 Stanford (21-2), the 2016 NCAA Champions, defeated No. 16 California to sweep the regular and postseason Pac-12 crowns. The Cardinal enter the tournament No. 6 in the nation, boasting five players in the ITA's top 125. Last season the Cardinal became the lowest-seeded team to win an NCAA Title, coming out of the No. 15 seed.
Saturday's match is the first ever meeting between the two schools. The match will be live streamed. You can follow along
live here.