SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On a bright sunny Sunday afternoon on the Mission campus, the No. 53 Bronco men's tennis defeated UC Irvine. Santa Clara came away with the 4-3 victory, boosting its record to 9-4 overall and 0-2 in the West Coast Confernce.
The Broncos will welcome Furman University on Wed., March 6 at 3 pm, before hosting University of the Pacific and Northern Arizona on March 9 and 10, respectively. Santa Clara will not have another road match until April 5 when it travels to San Diego.
"I was happy to see the team step up and get a solid win," said Bronco head coach Derek Mills. "I really felt like it was a total team effort."
Santa Clara hung tough throughout Sunday's match with help from a key doubles point and big performances from John Lamble, Tom Pham and Tomasz Soltyka.
In doubles, Lamble and Ilya Osintsev, who was severely ill, pulled out an 8-6 win at the top position. At No. 3, Soltyka and Logan Chun, who was starting his first doubles match at Santa Clara, took down their opponents 8-6 as well. The duo came out firing and gained a 7-3 advantage, and held on for the clutch win.
On the singles side, Soltyka played well and came up with an important win at No. 5, recording a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Tom Pham was next to finish at No. 4, taking the first set in the tiebreaker (7-5) and winning 6-3 in the second set. Pham upped his win total to 14 on the season (14-6 overall) and that mark leads the Bronco squad.
Osintsev retired three games in at No. 2 singles due to illness. Vince Menon, playing his first singles match for the Broncos at No. 6, was defeated by Jonathan Poon.
Moving forward in the No. 1 singles spot, Lamble came up with Santa Clara's final win. The No. 66-ranked player in the country prevailed in three sets over Tyler Pham, Tom Pham's brother. Lamble is now 12-9 on the season and has won five consecutive matches.
UC Irvine tested the Broncos and put up a strong fight, however Santa Clara rose to the challenge and secured the win.
|
Position |
Santa Clara University |
UC Irvine |
Winner |
Score |
|
#1 Singles |
#66 John Lamble |
Santa Clara University |
6-3, 4-6, 6-0 |
|
|
#2 Singles |
UC Irvine |
2-1, ret. |
||
|
#3 Singles |
UC Irvine |
5-7, 6-4, 6-2 |
||
|
#4 Singles |
Santa Clara University |
7-6, 6-3 |
||
|
#5 Singles |
Santa Clara University |
6-4, 6-2 |
||
|
#6 Singles |
UC Irvine |
6-1, 6-0 |
||
|
#1 Doubles |
Santa Clara University |
8-6 |
||
|
#2 Doubles |
UC Irvine |
8-3 |
||
|
#3 Doubles |
Santa Clara University |
8-6 |
