by Brandon Rebboah

MORAGA, Calif.- The Santa Clara men's tennis program ended its Fall season after being eliminated from both the singles and doubles draws on the second day of the Gael Classic. Despite Nicolas Vinel's upset of the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals, Vinel eventually fell in the semifinals. The Broncos' only doubles team fell in the quarterfinals. 

Vinel, the Broncos' last remaining singles player, had a come-from-beyond victory over the first-ranked Riki MacLachlan of Cal. After dropping the first set, Vinel won two sets to win (5-7; 7-6(6); 7-6(3)). Vinel's run ended in the semifinals as he fell in two sets to No. 4-seed Alex Brigham of UCLA.

"I thought we overall we had some good matches under our belt," said Santa Clara head coach Derek Mills. "[The matches] were highlighted by Nico [Vinel's] three-plus hour win over Cal's [MacLachlan]."

In doubles, UCLA's Brigham once again eliminated the Broncos as he and his partner, Dennis Mkirtchian, downed the tandem of Eugene Muchynski and Kyohhei Kamono 8-6.

"The Fall season has been a work in progess," said Mills.

In consolation matches, Kamono d. Garrett Cooch (4-6; 6-4; 1-0(8)) in the singles round robin consolation matches. Muchynski was defeated in the consolation bracket, falling Tomasz Krzyszkowski of Pacific.

The Gael Classic was the last tournament of the Broncos' Fall season. Santa Clara begins dual matches on January 21, 2012 when the Broncos host UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis and Sonoma State.