Feb. 17, 2007

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 73 Bronco men's tennis team kept its win streak going on Saturday afternoon at the Degheri Tennis Center. Santa Clara won its fourth straight match, beating No. 75 Oregon 5-2, to improve to 7-4 on the season. The Broncos again won the doubles point as Jan Macek and Bobby Rasmussen came through and Brian Brogan and Robert Gallman also earned a victory. Brogan, Jay Wong, Rasmussen and Tommy Hicks all won their singles matches.

The Broncos and Ducks split the first two doubles matches of the day in convincing fashion. Brogan and Gallman jumped out to a big lead and did not look back, defeating Ric Montera and Gustavo Loza 8-1 to get SCU out to a 1-0 lead in doubles. However, with Blane Shields fighting flu-like symptoms, he and Kevin McQuaid lost their match 8-2 to Geoff Embry and Alexander Cornelissen at No. 1. As they have all year, Macek and Rasmussen stepped up and clinched the doubles point with a convincing 8-4 win over Francisco Gallardo and Marcos Verdasco.

"Brian and Robert got off to a great start with two quick service breaks," said head coach George Husack. "Their victory pushed the momentum to Jan (Macek) and Bobby (Rasmussen), who have been a very solid combination this year. The doubles point was big for us heading into singles."

Filling in for Shields in singles, Hicks delivered another excellent performance at No. 6, winning 6-0, 6-1 over Loza to get SCU out to a 2-0 advantage. After Rasmussen captured a victory at the No. 5 position 6-1, 6-4, Wong clinched the match with a straight sets win over Gallardo. The win was the 20th of the year for Wong, who is now tied for ninth all-time in single season singles victories. The record for singles wins in a year is 30, held by Francisco Zepponi.

Another highlight of the day was Brogan's performance at No. 2. He pulled out a three-set win over Cornelissen 10-8 in a supertiebreaker. The first two sets were decided by tiebreakers with Brogan losing the first, before coming back to earn a 7-6 (7-5) win in the second set.

Santa Clara next takes on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at the Degheri Tennis Center on Monday, Feb. 19 at 11:00 a.m. SCU will be looking for its fifth straight win.

"We pulled Blane from singles as he was sick and Tommy stepped in with a big win to keep things rolling," said Husack. "The tennis was really good out there and hats off to the guys for pushing forward with solid play. Today was another step in the right direction for us; however, our weekend is not over yet. The Gauchos are going to be tough customers."

No. 73 Santa Clara def. No. 75 Oregon 5-2
Doubles: (Order of finish 3, 1, 2)
1. ORE Geoff Embry/Alexander Cornelissen def. SCU Kevin McQuaid/Blane Shields 8-2
2. SCU Jan Macek/Bobby Rasmussen def. ORE Francisco Gallardo/Marcos Verdasco 8-4
3. SCU Brian Brogan/Robert Gallman def. ORE Ric Montera/Gustavo Loza 8-1

Singles: (Order of finish 6, 5, 3, 1, 2, 4)
1. ORE Marcos Verdasco def. SCU Jan Macek 1-6, 6-1, 6-1
2. SCU Brian Brogan def. ORE Alexander Cornelissen 6-7(1) 7-6(5) 1-0(8)
3. SCU Jay Wong def. ORE Francisco Gallardo 6-3, 6-4
4. ORE Mike Myrhed def. SCU Robert Gallman 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 1-0(7)
5. SCU Bobby Rasmussen def. ORE Geoff Embry 6-1, 6-4
6. SCU Tommy Hicks def. ORE Gustavo Loza 6-0, 6-1