It was a long journey to success for junior Cristobal Ramos Salazar and senior Jose Bendeck of the Idaho men’s tennis team. They watched two Idaho doubles parings win the ITA Regional Mountain Championships doubles draw before finally winning it themselves this season. Now, they are set to play in the National Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y. on Nov. 7.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Jose Bendeck returns the ball to Cristobal Ramos Salazar during practice Wednesday on the Memorial Gym tennis courts. Bendeck and Ramos Salazar compete in the ITA National Indoor Championships Nov. 7-10 at New York, N.Y. They are the third consecutive Idaho pairing to qualify for the tournament.
“It’s a long way (to success), first time I stepped on the court it was doubles but I wasn’t playing with him. I felt like I was just playing for my team and trying to win. I never thought I would be going to the NCAA National Championship,” Ramos Salazar said.
As the No. 1 junior tennis player in Mexico in the 12-, 14- and 16-year-old age groups and ranked as high as No. 240 in the world in juniors by the International Tennis Federation, Ramos Salazar has always had a gift. He first came to Idaho in the spring of 2012 where he earned first-team All-WAC honors for doubles and WAC all-tournament team honors.
Ramos Salazar went 12-16 in singles play that spring, including 2-3 in WAC play. His 15-10 record in doubles showed this was where he truly excelled on the court with a 5-5 record in the top spot and 7-1 at No. 2.
Last season, Ramos Salazar clearly improved but considering his recent success sweeping by opponents in regional play, he has not reached his full potential. In singles, he went 16-8 but mostly played at the bottom three positions. He went 19-7 in doubles play but spent most of his time at No. 2 doubles at 17-5 last season.
Bendeck’s legacy spans back to nearly four years ago, when the Colombian native started his NCAA career. He ranked as high as No. 1 in Colombia in junior tennis and finished the fall of 2010 with a 4-3 singles record and 3-4 in doubles. In the spring of 2011, he played singles at the No. 4 and 5 positions to finish with a 14-8 record at Idaho after joining the program the previous fall.
Bendeck, like his teammate Ramos Salazar, played mainly in the No. 2 doubles spot and posted a 13-8 record overall. The following season, Bendeck was first-team All-WAC selection in doubles with an 18-15 record and last year he went 18-8 with a 17-6 record at No. 2 doubles. Both players have clearly gotten better every year.
Ramos Salazar and Bendeck worked together to prove themselves and their growth regionally, this fall.
“It was a big accomplishment for us, but I think the important part and the thing that counts is the national tournament where we show where we’re really at, we’re a good team in the region but we want to show that we’re a good team in the nation as well,” Bendeck said.
The competition will further test the two veterans who played behind a line of regional champions including graduate assistant coach Abid Akbar and celebrated Vandals Marius Cirstea and Andrew Dobbs. A lot of wins came from Dmitry Perevoshchikov last year, who is now back in Russia. It is up to Bendeck and Salazar to lead not just at the ITA National Indoor Championship but this year as a whole. They have done that so far, continuing a legacy of a small school in Idaho that has become known for tennis across the country.
“It’s going to be tough, all the teams that go there are going to be good teams from big universities,” Bendeck said. “We know it’s going to be the best tennis in the nation and I think we’re ready for it, we know we have the tennis to compete against them.”
Regardless of the outcome, the two accomplished veterans continue their path to success that seems contagious in this program. Bendeck and Ramos Salazar continue the Vandal tennis legacy and new youth are following in their path in the same position that the duo found themselves in a few years ago.
“We’ve been here longer, so we’re kind of the head of the team. We’re the top players on the team, all of them are newcomers, three transfers and two sophomores that didn’t really play last year. So I feel like we should give them confidence … I feel like we are leaders,” Ramos Salazar said.
Sometimes, age really is the determining factor as a player as Bendeck enters into what will be his final year as a Vandal in a long journey to the top.
“I think we’re the ones that show them the way, the way we practice, the way we show up, our behavior, we show them not what to do but a way for them to follow,” Bendeck said. “It’s important for us and somebody has to do it.”
Aaron Wolfe can be reached at [email protected]