SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference announced its men's tennis weekly honors on Tuesday, and Santa Clara's Ilya Osintsev was named the WCC Singles Player of the Week. Osintsev, the No. 2 singles player for the No. 42 ranked Bronco men's tennis team, is a perfect 5-0 during the 2014 dual match season and 9-2 overall including fall play. He has played a large role in helping the Broncos to their best start in over a decade.
On Thursday, Osintsev helped the Broncos increase their winning streak to five matches by defeating No. 57 San Diego State 6-1, Santa Clara's highest-ranked opponent of the season after No. 2 USC. Osintsev had a tough battle against Hunter Nicholas. The Bronco lefty won the first set 6-3 before Nicholas stepped up with a 6-3 second set. Osintsev won the match in a third-set tiebreaker, showing his physical and mental toughness.
On Sunday, Santa Clara faced another challenging opponent in No. 69 New Mexico, winners of four consecutive matches. Osintsev beat Hayden Sabatka 6-3, 6-3 for the Broncos' first singles win. Santa Clara posted a 4-1 victory against the Lobos for its sixth straight win, pushing its overall record to 7-1.
Osintsev burst onto the scene as a freshman, racking up an exceptional 20-3 record in his first season as a Bronco. He received WCC Freshman of the Year, All-WCC Honorable Mention Singles and Second Team All-WCC Doubles honors. After playing at No. 5 singles as a freshman, the Russian native moved up to No. 2 singles and won 12 matches during the 2012-13 season.
Osintsev beat out five other WCC players who were also nominated for the Singles Player of the Week award.
Check out the highlights from Santa Clara's victory over No. 57 San Diego State:
Read more about the WCC weekly honors here.
Go Broncos!