MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho Men's Tennis doubles partners, sophomore Bruno Casino and freshman Althaf Dhaifullah each took an unconventional path to collegiate athletics, each joining the program in the middle of the year.

Casino, a native of Santander, Spain, joined the Idaho men's tennis team in January of 2019 and played his first collegiate tennis match less than two weeks later. Casino's path to college athletics was unconventional as he joined the team for the first time in the middle of the year and began playing almost immediately.

Casino was Head Coach Daniel Hangstefer's first recruit to the program under his direction, and his path to Idaho was unconventional as well. Hangstefer was named the Idaho men's tennis Head Coach on Oct. 10^th, 2018, in the middle of the fall season, just three months before the start of the spring season.

"I got to Idaho in October of 2018 and just felt like I hit the ground running going after every kid I could find," said Hangstefer. "I was trying to get a player for the spring semester. Nothing was working out, then I got an email from someone the second week of December who mentioned Bruno."

After hearing about Bruno, Hangstefer began to reach out to him in hopes to have him here by the start of the Spring season, a little over a month away.

 "We had a few phone calls over the next couple days and he had everything lined up and ready to go with the NCAA and all his transcripts," said Hangstefer. "He was ready to go; he was just trying to find a place. We talked and it turned out that I thought he would be a great fit for Idaho and what we are trying to do here, and next thing you know, three weeks later he is on campus."

In less than two months Casino was able to make the trip from his hometown of Santander, Spain to Moscow, Idaho and join the Vandals.

"I don't know how it worked out with Christmas break thrown in there and campus being closed," added Hangstefer. "He got here, and I picked him up from the airport, he practiced two days later and played his first match about two weeks after that."
The turnaround time from arriving to Moscow and playing his first match was not long at all.

"I arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 8^th, 2019 and we went to Oregon not long after that," said Casino.  "I had visited the states a few years ago but had never played tennis here until the Oregon match."

Casino's first collegiate tennis match was against the University of Oregon on Jan. 20^th, 2019. Casino debuted in the No. 6 singles spot against Oregon, but fell 1-6, 5-7, in the match.

Casino's path to tennis began like most athletes' path's to sports: family. 

"I started playing tennis when I was really young," said Casino. "My father really liked tennis so he sort of shared that with me."

Tennis has always been a big part of Casino's life, but playing at a high level wasn't always thought about.

 "About three years ago I started hearing from guys I practiced with that they were thinking about leaving Spain and going to the U.S. to study, so I heard about that and started looking up about it and became really interested," said Casino. "I wanted to continue schooling but also wanted to play tennis because I really like playing tennis."

His first singles win came less than a month of playing stateside with a 6-0, 6-4 singles win against Lewis-Clark State College in the No. 5 spot. In the fall, Casino partnered with Senior Esteban Santibanez in doubles for the Gonzaga tournament, and won. The duo was ranked 50^th in the ITA NCAA Division I Men's Doubles rankings, following the win. Casino has transitioned his growth into the spring semester, and is 3-5 in singles play this season, while also being 4-0 in doubles play with his partner Althaf Dhaifullah.

Dhaifuallah's path to Idaho was similar to Casino's. The freshman joined the Idaho men's tennis team in January of 2020 from his hometown of Bandung, Indonesia. 

"I coached an Indonesian at my previous institution and that's how the connection to Althaf came about," said Hangstefer. "When we reached out to him, we realized that his academics and all of that were very well suited for what we can do here at Idaho, in terms of getting him admitted, and providing him the support he needs."

While Altahf did arrive to Moscow and began playing almost immediately, his path to get here wasn't as spontaneous as Casino's.

"We've known each other since pretty much the first day I got to Idaho," said Hangstefer.  "He originally planned to arrive in August of this year and some things didn't work out, so we made the decision to bring him in the spring."

Dhaifullah had never been to the United States prior to arriving here in January but worked very hard in order to get here.

 "He was prepared and ready," said Hangstefer. "He really worked on his English and prepared for the semester academically."

As the semester has progressed, Hangstefer has seen improvement not only in Dhaifulah's playing ability, but in the classroom as well.

"He's adjusted very well," said Hangstefer. "He's been working very hard on his English and his academics, and it's neat to see that."

Dhaifullah began playing tennis at a very young age after watching his father play.

"I started playing tennis when I was five years old," said Dhaifullah. "I watched my dad play tennis and I was interested in it, so I asked my Dad to teach me."

During his last year of playing in high school, Dhaifulalh began to think about playing at the collegiate level.

"I started thinking I wanted to play college last year when I finished high school," said Dhaifullah. "Daniel got my phone number from one of his former players at his previous school and reached out to me back in 2018."

After going through the process Dhaifullah was finally able to play tennis as a Vandal. That dream came true quicker than with most athletes.

"I got here around Jan. 7th," said Dhaifullah "Then played my first match Jan. 18^th,"

Much like Casino the year before, Dhaifullah jumped right in almost immediately after getting here, despite the nerves.

"I was still nervous for the first match, but I have gotten used to it," said Dhaifullah. "The rules are different, we used advantage point in Indonesia, so that took some getting used to."

In his first match as a Vandal, Dhaifuallh played in the No. 3 spot but fell just short, 6-4, 7-6. He earned his first win just a day later against Utah State in the No. 2 spot, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Dhaifullah is tied for the most singles wins on the team with a 4-3 record so far this season. He has played in multiple position, mostly in the No. 2 spot but has also played two matches in the No. 1 spot.

Dhaifullah and Casino have partnered together during four doubles matches this season and are 4-0.

"Bruno is a fighter on the court," said Dhaifullah. "He pushes me when I'm down, and he's just a good partner."

"I've changed a lot of partners so having a new partner wasn't difficult for me," said Casino. "I feel like he has been playing pretty good and we make a good team."
 
Casino, Dhaifullah, and the rest of the Vandals take the court again on Mar. 6^th, in Lewiston against Weber State at 5 p.m. Following the Weber Sate match the Vandals will return to action Saturday Mar. 7^th, against Idaho State at 6 p.m. in Lewiston.