In a year of reconstruction after losing three nationally ranked players, Vandal men’s tennis moves on to their second fall tournament of the season as a developing team.
Andrew Deskins | Argonaut
Senior Jose Bendeck hits a forehand during practice on Wednesday. Bendeck went 17-4 in singles and 18-8 in doubles last semester.
“With losing Marius, Abid and Dmitry you know (you’re losing) top three players,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “Ivan (Krijanto) was in the lineup, he also graduated last year. Jake Knox won some matches in doubles so that’s a lot of wins from last year that we got to stick new people in to step up.”
Abid Akbar will help Beaman as volunteer assistant coach this year.
The Vandals compete this fall with three new players attempting to fill in the gaps of the nationally ranked players who led the Vandals to the finals. Some returning players such as junior Cesar Torres, junior Cristobal Ramos Salazar and senior Jose Bendeck return from Idaho’s memorable 2012-13 season. Bendeck amassed an impressive 14-7 record last spring playing singles positions ranging from three to six.
He also went 18-8 in doubles proving himself a dynamic player in multiple roles. Torres also contributed to the team that finished a match shy of being WAC champions last spring.
“Cesar the returner also put up good results, you know Cesar, he’s steady he’s going to win,” Beaman said.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi transfer Odon Barta will have a lot more opportunities this year as a Vandal. After going 0-3 last year in singles for the Islanders, Odon went 3-0 in the most recent tournament in Napa Valley in his Vandal debut.
“I feel pretty good here. I mean I like the place, I feel like everyone is very nice with me, I love my teammates,” Barta said. “Last year I had a pretty bad year, I lost a lot of matches at the beginning of the season in my previous school. My coach took me out of the lineup so it feels really good I can win.”
Coach Beaman is optimistic about Odon and senior South Carolina State transfer Artemiy Nikitin.
Nikitin has increased his national singles ranking every year in his first three seasons at South Carolina State and continues to improve. During his junior year, he sat at No. 86 with a 19-1 singles record. Nikitin knows a thing or two about championships as well which adds hope to the Vandal championship expectations this year. Nikitin helped the Wolf Pack get to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tennis Championship and earn a NCAA tournament berth. He also earned MEAC Tournament Outstanding Performer. Nikitin and Barta will most likely work together in a doubles team this year.
“They have the potential to be a nationally ranked team and the Napa Valley Tournament really gave me some certain things that they can work on doing better,” Beaman said. “It’s also just them playing more together so they really learn how they move and their personalities on court.”
The Vandals will face some competitive nationally ranked players in The Baylor Invitational, this weekend.
“With the singles, it’s something that I know is Jose and Cristobal’s game. I have an idea of what Artemiy and Odon need to work on right now so the main thing is to throw Jose and Cristobal out there in singles against top competition and see what there starting point is,” Beaman said.
The two transfers will have the opportunity to define their roles in Idaho uniforms.
“With Odon and Artemiy, we’ve looked at things that they need to work on to play the style that I feel that they’ll be successful with. So it’s taking what I saw last week and building on it in Baylor,” Beaman said.
Aaron Wolfe can be reached at [email protected]