It was as close to a win as a heartbreaking loss could possibly be for Idaho’s senior Jose Bendeck and junior Cristobal Ramos Salazar. The Idaho men’s tennis duo lost in the round of 16 at the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Thursday in Flushing, N.Y.
Bendeck and Salazar fell 8-7 (2) to narrowly miss the quarterfinals against Florida State’s doubles pairing of Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez.
After a first-round bye in the tournament, the duo had a little bit of breathing room but competing against one of the best doubles pairings in the country was no simple task.
“The guys had a really tough match,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “We were up and had chances to break serve it out then the other team really stepped up and played at a very high level.”
The Idaho pairing will head to the consolation draw on Friday in an attempt to bring home some form of a win for the program. The opponent and match time remains to be seen.
“It was not the result we wanted but it was a good performance in terms of how we competed,” Beaman said. “I’m looking forward towards the consolation. Hopefully the guys can use this match to believe they can compete with every team here and make an impact in the consolation.”