Former Idaho coach back with Vandals for spring season
A familiar face is leading the Idaho tennis team during this spring season.
As the already 2-1 Idaho men’s tennis team heads into Saturday matches in Lewiston where Lewis-Clark State will host the Vandals and Whitman College, former coach Jeff Beaman is back in charge on a volunteer basis. He coached the Vandals through the first three matches.
Beaman declined to comment on why he is no longer with Washington State after joining the program last July, but said he is glad to coach the Vandals again this spring season. Beaman won two WAC championships last spring coaching the Idaho men’s and women’s teams.
“Basically, I’m not working there anymore and … I had a good run at Idaho,” he said. “I recruited a lot of the kids, coached the kids, had a chance to volunteer here and really believe we can do something special with this season.”
The level of competition will be a lot lower than Idaho is accustomed to this weekend, as LCSC is an NAIA program and Whitman is a Division III team. After the two victories in Portland last Friday and Saturday, Idaho is on a hot streak.
It won’t be the first time this year the Vandals have played either LCSC or Whitman. In October, Idaho had matches against both teams at the Dar Walters Fall Tennis Classic in Boise, with almost all matches going the Vandals’ way.
“It’s going to be the first time we’re playing two matches in the same day,” Beaman said. “It’s physically and mentally a new challenge. Whitman is a really good D III (team). I’m really looking for us to go out and compete hard and continue to get better.”
This weekend, the Vandals will look for big play from all six players, especially in doubles. Cristobal Ramos Salazar and Jackson Varney were Idaho’s No. 1 pairing against Portland State and dispersed of the Vikings’ duo of Stuart Tierney and Ian Risenhoover 6-2. The rest of their duo pairs fell in their matches though.
The next day, Idaho won all three doubles matches against Lewis and Clark College and this weekend the team will want to keep that streak going.
Singles play got off to a rocky start against Gonzaga in the first match of the spring season when only Mark Kovacs was able to win his match against the Zags. Idaho turned it around against Portland State where Odon Barta, Felipe Fonseca, Ramos Salazar, Kovacs and Rhys Richardson all won their matches.
It was the same story against Lewis and Clark College where all players but one lost their singles match. Barta, Fonseca, Varney, Ramos Salazar and Kovacs all won while Richardson suffered the loss.
“Overall, we just want to get mentally better and stronger,” Beaman said.
Since the competition isn’t at its strongest against these two upcoming teams, it can be viewed as tune-up matches for Idaho. After this weekend, the Vandals travel to take on Northern Colorado in their first Big Sky match since returning to the conference last July. Afterward, they will play in the Mountain and Pacific Tournament in Stockton, California, which will test Idaho against some of the best collegiate players in the region.
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]