Bronco Men's Tennis Bests Northern Arizona 5-2; Head Coach Derek Mills Wins 100th NCAA Match

Bronco Men's Tennis Bests Northern Arizona 5-2; Head Coach Derek Mills Wins 100th NCAA Match

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Bronco men's tennis team got back to their winning ways on Sunday, topping Northern Arizona on a gorgeous day at the Degheri Tennis Center. The win marked a milestone for Bronco Head Coach Derek Mills, as he reached his 100th career NCAA victory.  Santa Clara came out firing in doubles and never looked back, taking the match in a 5-2 final. The win upped the team's record to 11-5 and improved their home record to an impressive 8-1.

The Broncos' next match is another home contest, this time against No. 66 Purdue University. The Boilermakers will visit the Mission Campus Saturday, March 16 for a 2pm match.

"Today was a solid team victory," said Mills. "Our guys came out strong in doubles and got it done in singles."

Santa Clara set the tone early, winning the doubles point. John Lamble and Tom Pham rolled at No. 1, blanking their opponents 8-0 to gain SCU's first win. Tomasz Soltyka and Logan Chun played consistently and took advantage of their opportunities, winning the final four games of the match for an 8-4 victory.

In singles, Santa Clara took each of the top four matchups. No. 66 Lamble was a straight-setter winner, 6-3, 6-4, in the top position. The Saratoga native won his eighth consecutive match (15-9 overall), giving him the longest winning streak of any Bronco this season.

Ashot Khacharyan made his second appearance at No. 2, shutting out his opponent 6-0 in the first set before winning the second set 6-4. Khacharyan's victory boosted his record to 12-2 on the season and he has won 10 of his past 11 matches.

Pham pulled out the first-set tiebreaker en route to a 7-6, 6-2 win, his 17th of the year (17-6 overall) and fourth in a row. Soltyka recorded his second straight win in a 6-3, 6-4 final, evening his record at 5-5.

Under the direction of Mills, the Santa Clara men's tennis program has grown to new heights. Mills, in his 21st year of coaching at the youth and collegiate levels, previously coached at Saint Louis University as the head men's and women's coach.

During the 2011-12 campaign, Mills led Santa Clara to its most successful season in program history while garnering West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors. Mills led the Broncos to numerous program firsts including the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance and first NCAA Tournament win against then-No. 19 Texas during the first round. The Broncos then fell to then-No. 11 Stanford, who advanced to the Elite Eight.

In 2012 Mills coached the Broncos to all-time highs in wins in a season (22), an all-time high in national ranking at No. 29 on March 6 and the highest end-of-season ranking in school history at No. 33. During the season Santa Clara finished second in the WCC while Mills coached four players to the all-conference singles team, four players to the all-conference doubles team and two members were also honored on the WCC All-Academic squad.

 Position

 Santa Clara University

 Northern Arizona University

 Winner

 Score

 #1 Singles

 #66 John Lamble

 Shaun Waters

 Santa Clara University

 6-3, 6-4

 #2 Singles

 Ashot Khacharyan

 Patrick Schimmelbauer

 Santa Clara University

 6-0, 6-4

 #3 Singles

 Tom Pham

 Dominic Bermudez

 Santa Clara University

 7-6, 6-2

 #4 Singles

 Tomasz Soltyka

 Robert Martin

 Santa Clara University

 6-3, 6-4

 #5 Singles

 Vince Menon

 Kester Black

 Northern Arizona University

 6-1. 6-2

 #6 Singles

 Logan Chun

 Trevor Unger

 Northern Arizona University

 6-0. 6-0

 #1 Doubles

 John Lamble
 Tom Pham

 Kester Black
 Shaun Waters

 Santa Clara University

 8-0

 #2 Doubles

 Ashot Khacharyan
 Ilya Osintsev

 Dominic Bermudez
 Patrick Schimmelbauer

 Unfinished

 6-5

 #3 Doubles

 Logan Chun
 Tomasz Soltyka

 Robert Martin
 Trevor Unger

 Santa Clara University

 8-4