TEMPE, Ariz. – University of West Alabama tennis coach Jeff Beaman has been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association men’s national ranking chair, as well as the women’s South regional chair. Beaman will serve a three-year term as national chair for the men.

Beaman, who took the reins of the West Alabama men’s and women’s tennis programs in July 2015 and over that time has put together a 57-44 record as the men’s coach and a 68-28 mark as coach of the Tiger women, including a perfect 11-0 GSC record and regular season title in 2019.

While he has served as the ITA men’s south region ranking chair over the past three years, Beaman has also served on the ITA National Operating committee and is a member of the NCAA RAC women’s committee and the ITA national awards committee. He also serves as the Gulf South Conference tennis coaches representative.

Beaman and the Tigers get his sixth season underway with both men and women’s exhibition matches at NCAA Division I opponent Jacksonville State Saturday.

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TUSCALOOSA – West Alabama’s Christopher Bulus advanced to the semi-finals of the 2020 ITA Fall Circuit Hosted by Tuscaloosa Tennis Center and presented by Eric Wilson Law, LLC this weekend.

Bulus defeated NCAA Division II All-American Ondrej Ctverak from Hawaii Pacific University and the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-3 to open play in the tourney.

The Lagos, Nigeria native then defeated Christian Lakoseljac from Penn State and Ontario, Canada 6-2, 7-5 in the second round. Lakoseljac played No. 1 for the Nittany Lions last spring and has been nationally ranked in both singles and doubles at NCAA Division I.

Bulus dispatched a second player from Penn State in the quarterfinals, beating Sam Bossem of the United Kingdom 1-6, 6-2, 10-2. Bossem is the 163^rd ranked junior player in the world.

Memphis’ Oscar Cutting ended Bulus’ run in the tournament with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 victory in the semi-finals. A native of England, Cutting then lost in the championship match to Alabama and Tianjin, China product Zhe Zhou, 6-3, 5-7, 10-6.

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – West Alabama tennis players Haina Franco and Christopher Bulus both earned a spot in the main draw of the 2020 ITA National Summer Championships that begin Friday at Mitchell Tennis Complex on the campus of Texas A&M.

“It is great to see both our players make the main draw of this prestigious event,” UWA head coach Jeff Beaman said. “They will play against some of the best competition there is and will learn a ton from this experience that they can carry over into their college careers.”

Franco will open play Saturday against Riley McQuaid of Texas A&M, the No. 16 seed who finished with a 14-4 singles record for the Aggies last spring and was a five-star recruit out of Pacific (Calif.) Coast High School. Franco was the 2019 Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year and owns a 21-9 career singles record and a 21-8 career doubles record.

Bulus is set to play Lucas Brown, also on Saturday, a blue chip recruit who is ranked as the No. 2 Junior in the United States. Brown is from Plano, Texas and has an overall record of 59-18. Bulus was 8-3 in singles and 8-2 in doubles play in 2020, his first year as a Tiger after transferring in from New Mexico Military Institute.

The Summer Championships run through Tuesday.

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LIVINGSTON – University of West Alabama men’s tennis players Christopher Bulus and Ilari Vesanen are enjoying success in the summer circuit, with Bulus winning the ITA Summer Singles Circuit in Corpus Christi, Texas and Vesanen taking second in the Finland National Championship men’s doubles event.

Bulus won three matches on the first day of the competition with relative ease, before taking down Jake Faryniarz of San Antonio, Texas, 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-finals and Javier Gonzalez Huerta from the University of Texas at San Antonio 7-6, 3-6, 10-4 in the finals.

Vesanen and doubles partner Mikko Rouvala won three matches before being defeated in the finals by Patrick Kaukovalta and Eero Vasa 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 in the finals.

Vesanen and Bulus teamed up to post an 8-2 record in doubles before the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bulus was 8-3 in singles and Vesanen 8-2.

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BIRMINGHAM – Former West Alabama tennis players Julius Kaverinen and Nestor Vargas each earned a spot on the Gulf South Conference Men’s Tennis Team of the Decade according to an announcement by the league office.

Kaverinen, who played at UWA from 2016-19, was a first team selection. Vargas, a Tiger from 2011-14, was a second team choice.

From Helsinki, Finland, Kaverinen was a 2018 All-American in both singles and doubles and a three-time All-GSC selection. He teamed with Linus Holthey to finish fourth nationally in doubles in 2018 and ranked as high as No. 11 nationally in 2018 singles.

Kaverinen was ranked as high as No. 10 regionally in singles in 2019 and teamed with Holthey to be ranked as high as third in the region in doubles in 2019, playing both at No. 1.

Vargas, from Bogota, Columbia, earned All-American recognition in both singles and doubles in 2014 and was a two-time All-GSC choice. He recorded 60 singles and 54 doubles wins in three seasons at UWA after transferring from Winthrop. Vargas was a top 10 seed in ITA Regionals and was ranked as high as 15^th nationally in singles.

Bruno Savi of West Florida was voted the player of the decade and Argonaut coach Derrick Racine the coach of the decade.

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