SEATTLE, Wash. - The No. 36 Bronco men's tennis team pulled out a thrilling, 4-3 come-from-behind victory against No. 38 Boise State on Saturday in Seattle. It is the second straight Saturday the Broncos have defeated Boise State on a neutral court, winning 4-1 on Jan. 26 at Cal.
"I was really proud of a full team effort, especially from our freshmen," said Santa Clara head coach Derek Mills. "Ashot took care of business, winning two straight sets and Tomasz had a come-from-behind clinching match to give us the victory."
Santa Clara improved to 4-2 on the season. Both the Broncos losses this season have come to top 25 teams (vs. No. 20 Michigan and at No. 23 Washington).
Santa Clara continues life on the road next weekend when it travels to Weber State on Feb. 7 and BYU on Feb. 9.
Freshman Tomasz Soltyka, who was appearing in only his second career match, pulled out a key win to lift Santa Clara to a 4-3 victory. After losing the first set, Soltyka came back with a 7-5 second set win. With the teams tied at three wins each, Soltyka came through with a 6-4 final in the third set, helping Santa Clara to victory.
Although Boise State took each of the three doubles matches to win the first point, with Santa Clara losing 8-3 at No. 1 and No. 2 and 8-4 at No. 3, the Broncos regrouped for the singles. Santa Clara won four singles matches to clinch the win. In addition to Soltyka's performance at No. 6 singles, Ilya Osintsev picked up an important 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 2 singles.
Veteran Matt Kecki came up big as well, winning in three long sets at No. 3. Freshman Ashot Khacharyan won 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5.
No. 36 Santa Clara 4, No. 38 Boise State 3
Doubles
1) Nathan Sereke/Andrew Bettles (BSU) def. Ilya Osintev/John Lamble 8-3
2) Garrett Patton/Scott Sears (BSU) def. Matt Kecki/Tom Pham 8-3
3) Toby Mitchell/Filipp Pogostkin (BSU) def. Ashot Kacharyan/Eugene Muchynski 8-4
Singles
1) Andrew Bettles (BSU) def. John Lamble, 6-3,6-2
2) Ilya Osinsev (SCU) def. Nathan Sereke, 6-3, 7-6
3) Matt Kecki (SCU) def. Scott Sears, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3)
4) Filipp Pogostkin (BSU) def. Thomas Pham 7-6,7-5
5) Ashot Khacharyan (SCU) def. Garrett Patton, 6-2,6-4
6) Tomasz Soltyka (SCU) def.Thomas Tenreiro, 4-6,7-5,6-4