MORAGA, Calif. – The No. 43 Bronco men's tennis team faced another tough conference foe on Friday, ultimately coming up unsuccessful against St. Mary's in its second West Coast Conference match of the season. The final score was 5-2 in Moraga, snapping Santa Clara's three-game win streak. The Broncos are now 8-4 overall and 0-2 in WCC play.
Santa Clara returns to the Mission Campus on Sunday to take on the UC Irvine Anteaters at 11 am. The Broncos now host eight home matches in a row.
At No. 1 singles, No. 69 John Lamble played a terrific match, coming up with a competitive straight-set win. Lamble picked up his 11th victory of the season (11-9 overall) in the strong effort. After a brutal three-match stretch where he faced top-75 ranked players, Lamble has now won four straight matches.
Ilya Osintsev, battling illness, fell at No. 2 singles. In the third spot, Ashot Khacharyan continued his torrid stretch, taking down his opponent in straight sets while dropping only three games. Khacharyan improved to 9-1 on the season and upped his winning streak to seven matches.
At No. 4, Tom Pham's gutsy effort came up just short, as the senior was bested in three hard-fought sets. The first set tiebreaker was extremely intense, with St. Mary's edging out Santa Clara 13-11. Pham rebounded to take the second set before falling in the third set 10-point tiebreak. The teams did not play a full third set as the match had already been decided.
In the fifth and sixth positions, St. Mary's also came up with wins despite Santa Clara's efforts.
The doubles point came down to each team's top duo, with St. Mary's narrowly beating out Santa Clara 8-6. With the Broncos serving at 6-6, the teams went to a number of deuces before St. Mary's finally prevailed.