POCATELLO, Idaho – The Bengals women's tennis team faced off against rivals, the University of Idaho Vandals earlier today. The Bengals showed up and showed out as they defeated the Vandals behind a dominant performance, 6-1. Idaho State improves to 6-2 on the season and 2-0 in Big Sky Conference play and improve their winning streak to six consecutive matches, including three consecutive matches against the Vandals. The University of Idaho will fall to 1-5 on the season and open conference play 0-1.
The Bengals swept the doubles matches point behind great performances at the No. 1 doubles match in
Sol O'Lideadha and
Lola O'Lideadha as they took down their opponents 6-3, in the No. 2 doubles match where
Hana Cho and
Leah Kuruvilla came out on top by a score of 6-3, and in the No. 3 doubles match from
Sydney Morris and
Megan Lang-Gould where they took care of business by a score of 6-4.
The Bengals and Vandals battled in tight singles matches as
Hana Cho fell in the No. 1 singles match in three sets 3-6, 6-1, 4-6. In the No. 2 singles match
Lola O'Lideadha made a fierce comeback as she lost the first set 2-6 but won the next two 6-2 and 6-4 to take home the win.
Sol O'Lideadha (6-3, 6-3) and
Megan Lang-Gould (6-2, 6-3) made it look too easy in the No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches as they finished off their Vandal opponents in straight sets. We saw
Leah Kuruvilla in the No. 5 singles match go down early, but come through in the end as she won in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 10-3.
Stefanya Shalakhova was in for the Bengals at the No. 6 singles match and she made light work of her matchup, winning in straight sets 7-5, 5-2.
Head coach
Gretchen Maloney had this to say on the win, "Total team effort today. In doubles We played clean and executed well on serve and return. In singles the girls all made tactical adjustments to figure out a way to win. Their determination and fight was awesome!"
The Bengals will be back on the road this weekend as they head to Portland, Oregon to take on Portland State and the University of Portland on Saturday at 11 AM and Sunday at 10 AM.
