March 27, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara Broncos men's tennis team earned an impressive 6-1 victory over No. 69 Brigham Young on Tuesday at the Degheri Tennis Center. The Broncos, now ranked No. 70 in the country won two out of three doubles matches and won five close singles matches to earn the win. SCU is now 14-5 on the season and has won 11 out of its past 12 matches.
Despite a loss by Jan Macek and Bobby Rasmussen at No. 1 doubles, Santa Clara got outstanding performances by their No. 2 and No. 3 pairs to pick up the doubles point. Robert Gallman and Blane Shields improved to 6-0 as a doubles pair with an 8-6 win over Christian Hand and Jonathan Sanchez. Their win clinched the doubles point for SCU after Brian Brogan and Jay Wong defeated Cassidy Mears and Cale Planck 8-4.
Macek got the singles rolling for the second straight match with his second win over a ranked opponent this season. He beat No. 105 James Ludlow 6-4, 6-3. He previously beat No. 80 Claudio Christen of Arizona. Gallman was next to close out his match recovering from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to win the match 6-3, 6-4 over Planck at No. 4.
The amazing run of Blane Shields continued on Tuesday as the Novato, Calif. native battled through a first set tiebreak before cruising to a 7-6 (7), 6-1 win over Michael Eraso. He trailed 4-0 in the first set tiebreaker, but came back to win 9-7. Shields has won eight straight singles matches and is still perfect in the dual match season at 8-0. His win also clinched the match for SCU.
After a loss by Wong at No. 3, Brogan and Rasmussen finished the dual match in style with three-set victories. Brogan had three match points in the second set before losing the set in the tiebreaker. However, he recovered strongly with an inspiring 6-4 win in the third set. Rasmussen pushed his win streak to eight, winning at No. 4 over Jonathan Sanchez 6-3, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (7).
Santa Clara concludes its week with a match against another tough non-conference foe on Saturday, March 31. The Broncos play Harvard for the second time in program history at 3:00 p.m. PT on Alumni Day. The men's tennis program will host a barbecue prior to the match at 1:00 p.m. PT. The barbecue will cost $25 per person.
No. 70 Santa Clara def. No. 69 Brigham Young 6-1
Doubles: (Order of finish: 1, 3, 2)
1. BYU Dominil Kaufhold/James Ludlow def. SCU Jan Macek/Bobby Rasmussen 8-3
2. SCU Blane Shields/Robert Gallman def. BYU Christian Hand/Jonathan Sanchez 8-6
3. SCU Brian Brogan/Jay Wong def. BYU Cassidy Mears/Cale Planck 8-4
Singles: (Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 3, 2, 4)
1. SCU Jan Macek def. BYU #105 James Ludlow 6-4, 6-3
2. SCU Brian Brogan def. BYU Dominik Kaufhold 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-4
3. BYU Christian Hand def. SCU Jay Wong 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
4. SCU Bobby Rasmussen def. BYU Jonathan Sanchez 6-3, 6-7 (3), 1-0,(7)
5. SCU Robert Gallman def. BYU Cale Planck 6-3, 6-4
6. SCU Blane Shields def. BYU Michael Eraso 7-6 (7), 6-1
