SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With approximately one month remaining in the season, the Bronco men's tennis team is looking to finish the 2013 campaign with their best tennis, as they face a number of competitive teams and conference opponents. After taking a week off for finals the Broncos will get back to business against Tulane on March 26 with hopes of starting a new winning streak.
The Broncos and Green Wave will square off Tues., March 26 at 11 am on the Mission Campus. The matchup marks the second of three matches for Tulane during its West Coast road trip.
Santa Clara is 11-6 overall, including a strong 8-2 record at home and a 1-3 mark on the road. It is 2-1 in neutral contests. The Broncos have fallen in their only two conference matches, but have six WCC contests remaining over the season's final month.
Santa Clara put up a tough fight against Purdue in its previous match, ultimately coming up on the short end of a 4-3 final. Purdue grabbed the doubles point which proved to be the difference-maker. Over its past six matches, Santa Clara is 3-0 when winning the doubles point and is 0-3 when losing the doubles point.
Tulane Green Wave
Tulane's record stands at 11-4 and it is riding a seven-match winning streak. During the streak, Tulane has picked up wins over three ranked opponents: 4-3 vs. No. 73 UAB, 6-1 vs. No. 57 Samford and 4-3 at No. 67 Cal Poly.
The Green Wave traveled to the West Coast and faced No. 67 Cal Poly on Sunday, edging the Mustangs 4-3. Tulane won the doubles point and took home the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 singles matches to clinch the victory. It was their second straight win over a ranked opponent.
At No. 1 doubles, the duo of Idan Mark and Dominik Koepfer improved to 10-2 on the season by topping Cal Poly. Koepfer has played at No. 2 and No. 3 singles primarily, however he made his debut at No. 1 against Cal Poly. The freshman from Germany took No. 30 Andre Dome to three sets before falling, giving him his first loss of the season (14-1).
Last Time Out
Santa Clara put up a tough fight against Purdue in its previous match, ultimately coming up on the short end of a 4-3 final. Purdue grabbed the doubles point which proved to be the difference-maker. Over its past six matches, Santa Clara is 3-0 when winning the doubles point and is 0-3 when losing the doubles point.
In the singles portion, Purdue won three matches which clinched the match, before Santa Clara rallied for three hard-fought victories to narrow the final margin. No. 68 John Lamble rallied after dropping the first set, dominating the final sets 6-2 and 6-2 at No 1. Lamble's win gave him nine consecutive victories, which marks the longest Bronco winning streak this season, and he improved his overall record to 16-9.
Ashot Khacharyan turned in the strongest SCU performance of the day, continuing to outperform his opponents with a straight set, 6-4, 7-6 win. Khacharyan upped his record to 13-2 and he has won 11 of his last 12 matches. Tom Pham overcame a rough first set and picked up his team-leading 18th win with a 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (9) final. Pham has won five straight matches and is 18-6 overall.
Recaps
Santa Clara entered the month looking to build on a promising 3-1 January that saw it top UC Davis 6-1, UC Santa Cruz 7-0, and No. 38 Boise State 4-1 while suffering its only loss to No. 20 Michigan. The Broncos kept up their momentum, finishing 5-2 in February with their only losses coming to top-50 teams.
On Feb. 1, Santa Clara battled hard with No. 22 Washington, eventually falling to the host Huskies. The Broncos rebounded strongly the following day, pulling out a huge 4-3 comeback win over No. 38 Boise State in a rematch of the previous weekend's ITA Kick-Off consolation.
Santa Clara had a number of outstanding performances in the victory over Boise State. Tomasz Soltyka, who was appearing in only his second career match, rallied for a 7-5 second set and 6-4 third set win after dropping the first. The exciting win clinched the match for SCU.
In addition to Soltyka's performance at No. 6 singles, Osintsev picked up an important 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 2 singles. Veteran Kecki came up big as well, winning in three long sets at No. 3. Khacharyan moved up to No. 5 and stepped up to the challenge, winning 6-2, 6-4.
Santa Clara continued its road match stretch by traveling to Utah for two matches. In the 6-1 victory at Weber State on Feb. 7, a number of Broncos made solid contributions in the winning effort, setting the stage for their first conference contest of 2013.
After downing Weber State in Ogden, Santa Clara faced No. 50 BYU in Provo for the WCC opener. Santa Clara jumped out to a promising start, taking all three doubles matches. The Broncos switched up their doubles lineup and the move paid off immediately with the sweep. The Cougars battled back, however, taking four of six singles matches to secure the win.
Osintsev came up with a big win at No. 2 singles. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Osintsev persevered to take the final two sets (6-3, 6-4) for Santa Clara's second win of the match. Khacharyan picked up the Broncos third and final win with a 7-6, 6-4 final.
Santa Clara returned to the Mission Campus for President's Day weekend and picked up its three wins against Sacramento State, Sonoma State and UC Santa Barbara to finish the month on a high note. In March, the Broncos have nine contests, only one of which is on the road. Their schedule includes conference matches against St. Mary's, LMU, and No. 7 Pepperdine, as well as a matchup against No. 71 Purdue.
Global Perspectives
The Bronco men's tennis program has players and coaches from four countries, including three international players and two international coaches … the SCU roster features four players from the United States, two players from Russia and one player from Poland … the coaching staff also includes one Czech native in first-year assistant coach Rudy Siwy.