File photo by Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Artemiy Nikitin hits a forehand in practice on Oct. 14 on the Memorial Gym Tennis Courts. The Idaho men’s tennis team beat Seattle U 5-2 and Eastern Washington on Saturday in Cheney, Wash.
Riding the momentum of strong doubles play, the Idaho men’s tennis team came out with two victories in its spring season opening matches.
The Vandals played Seattle U and Eastern Washington on Saturday, beating the Redhawks 5-2 and the Eagles 7-0, respectively.
“It was good to go out and actually compete to get the two wins,” Idaho coach Jeff Beaman said. “But the biggest part of it was that everybody had matches where they faced pressure. They were competing against an actual opponent. That’s where you really see what we need to work on moving forwards.”
The highlight of the weekend was the doubles play, where the Vandals were undefeated. Senior Jose Bendeck and junior Cristobal Ramos Salazar beat Jason Bediones and Kevin Lynch of Seattle U 6-2 in No. 1 doubles. Then, senior Artemy Nikitin and sophomore Odon Barto won their match 6-1 at No. 2 and sophomore Andrew Zedde and junior Cesar Torres won 6-4 at No. 3 to sweep the Redhawks.
Later that day, the Vandals played Eastern Washington with Bendeck and Salazar winning 6-4, Nikitin and Barta going 6-2 and Zedde, this time paired with sophomore Matt Oddonetto, going 6-4.
“It’s something we’ve put a lot of work into that we’ve historically been very good at,” Beaman said of Idaho’s doubles play. “It’s something that’s very controllable if people are willing to buy into the system, work with a partner, you can succeed in it. So to start out and really shine in the doubles was a good thing.”
One Vandal carried his solid doubles play into his singles matches. Bendeck went 6-0, 6-5 (5) in No. 2 singles against Seattle U before switching spots with Nikitin and going 6-3, 6-4 in No. 1 singles against Eastern Washington to finish the day undefeated.
“Jose, at times, was playing at an extremely high level,” Beaman said. “If he keeps going, he can have a great senior year, potentially make the national NCAA individual championships.”
Even though Idaho’s performance looks dominating on paper, Beaman said the team still has a lot to improve on moving forward.
“There were certain stats that I was impressed with, the one thing is nobody really put together a really good match,” he said. “Even if they won in a score that looks convincing, there were times that guys were tight, they were playing a style that was forced, or defensive, or too aggressive.”
Beaman said that the Redhawks and Eagles were strong teams, but not as good as some of the teams the Vandals will face in the future. This week, Idaho travels to Oregon to compete against Fresno State on Saturday in Eugene and Portland State on Sunday in Portland.
“Fresno State, they’re a team that they’ve been historically a great program. Just a few years ago when we were in the same conference, they got up to No. 14 in the nation,” Beaman said. “They are a program that’s very talented. I do like that we’re playing them at a neutral site.
Portland State … they have a lot of new kids this year. It’s just sort of seeing what we have looking forward to next year when we’re in the Big Sky.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]