by Brandon Rebboah

PALO ALTO, Calif.- The No. 50 Santa Clara men's tennis team picked up a marquee win over No. 48 Boise State to begin the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Kickoff Weekend. The Broncos downed Boise State with a 5-2 victory and await No. 6 Stanford on Saturday.

Santa Clara (3-0) picked up a decisive victory that was driven by dominant singles-play; SCU won four out of six singles matches. In the No. 1 singles spot, senior Kyle Dandan defeated the ITA's No. 31 individual player, James Meredith, in straight sets. In the No. 2 spot, sophomore John Lamble continued his early-season dominance with a win over Andrew Bettles. Lamble jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Bettles retired. Nicolas Vinel and Tom Pham also picked up singles victories. 

"I think overall we came out and gave great energy," said Santa Clara head coach Derek Mills. "Boise State is a legitimate top-30 team so this a great start to the year."

In the doubles portion, Santa Clara grabbed two victories to take the dual match. The tandem of Dandan and Pham defeated BSU's Bettles and Scott Sears 8-3. The all-French duo of Vinel and Maxime Armengaud put the nail in Boise State (2-1) with an 8-5 victory. 

On the second day of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, Santa Clara will battle No. 6 Stanford. The Cardinal downed No. 62 Saint Mary's in the second match of Friday's action.

Live footage of the ITA Kickoff Weekend can be viewed here.

SINGLES
1) Kyle Dandan (SCU) d. No. 31 James Meredith (BSU) 6-3, 6-4
2) John Lamble (SCU) d. Andrew Bettles (BSU) 6-1, ret.
3) Scott Sears (BSU) d. Maxime Armengaud (SCU) 7-5, 6-2
4) Nicolas Vinel (SCU) d. Garrett Patton (BSU) 6-4, 6-0
5) Nathan Sereke (BSU) d. Ilya Osintsev (SCU) 7-5, 6-1
6) Tom Pham (SCU) d. Filipp Pogostkin (BSU) 6-2, 6-1

DOUBLES
1) Meredith/Sereke (BSU) d. Lamble/Osintsev (SCU) 8-6
2) Dandan/Pham (SCU) d. Bettles/Sears (BSU) 8-3
3) Armengaud/Vinel (SCU) d. Patton/Pogostkin (BSU) 8-5