DENVER – Idaho’s Jose Bendeck and Almudena Sanz have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Tennis Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 14-20.
Bendeck, a senior from Barranquilla, Colombia, combined to go 4-0 in singles and doubles during the week, playing all four of his matches at the No. 1 position and helping Idaho earn the No. 2 seed in this week’s WAC tournament. Bendeck beat Montana’s No. 1 singles player and No. 1 doubles duo in close matches to help Idaho pull out the 4-2 win. He won in three sets at No. 1 singles and won 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. Against LCSC, Bendeck and Cristobal Ramos Salazar, the No. 89 doubles pairing in the ITA National Rankings, won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles before Bendeck capped off his Senior Day with another tough three-set win at the top singles spot.
Sanz, a senior from Oviedo, Spain, clinched Idaho’s 4-3 win over Oregon on her Senior Day with her three-set, comeback win at No. 2 singles, with the match tied 3-3. Sanz was down 4-2 in the second set against Oregon’s Jasmine Minor, and later faced a 40-love deficit trailing 6-5 in the match, before rallying to force a third set and eventually clinch the victory for Idaho. Her doubles win against the Ducks was equally as important, as it was a difference-maker for the doubles point for the Vandals, who lost at No. 3 doubles but won the point with Nos. 1 and 2 victories. Sanz also pulled out a three-set win at Montana in No. 2 singles keeping the Vandals alive in that match. For the week, Sanz went a combined 3-1, and improved her singles record to 14-7 on the season, all at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions, and her doubles record to 17-4, all at No. 1.