No. 49 Men's Tennis Tops New Mexico State 4-3

No. 49 Men's Tennis Tops New Mexico State 4-3

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The No. 49 men's tennis team got back to its winning ways on Sunday, topping New Mexico State University, 4-3. The Broncos notched their 10th victory of the season and ninth win in their last 10 matches.

Santa Clara improved to 10-2 during the 2014 season and it is 2-0 in WCC play. The team is 7-1 at home, 2-1 on the road, and 1-0 on neutral sites. Santa Clara is 3-1 against ranked opponents.

With finals coming up, Santa Clara will take the next week off before resuming play over spring break. The Broncos' next contest will take place on Mon., Mar. 24 at 12pm against LMU in Los Angeles. The following day, Santa Clara will take on No. 42 Pepperdine, the only WCC team ranked higher in the ITA rankings than the Broncos.

Santa Clara edged New Mexico State behind wins from its No. 1 – No. 4 singles players in a close match that featured three three-set contests.  

In doubles, New Mexico State started off quickly, taking both the No. 2 and No. 3 matches 8-4 to earn the doubles point. In the top position, John Lamble and Ilya Osintsev continued their torrid stretch with an 8-5 win. Their record is now a spotless 10-0 during the regular season. The duo has won 15 of 16 matches and 14 straight dual matches dating back to last season.

It was their 32nd career victory, and Lamble and Osintsev broke a tie with Jan Macek and Bobby Rasmussen for the second-most victories by one tandem in program history. They trail only Marcell Hlousek and Jeremy Testwuide in the all-time rankings, who racked up 47 wins in the late 1990s.

The Broncos had been 0-2 when losing the doubles point, but they reversed that trend by digging deep and picking up four singles wins.  

Lamble won his first set in a tiebreaker and had an easier second set at 6-3. Lamble improved to 8-1 during the regular season and 15-4 including the fall. Lamble has an outstanding career record of 75-35, and with the win on Sunday, he tied Francisco Zepponi for second-most singles wins in program history.

Osintsev has absolutely dominant during the season so far, and he kept it up by crushing his opponent 6-1, 6-0. Osintsev has won nine consecutive matches and is undefeated at 9-0. The junior's overall 2014 record is 13-2.

At No. 3 singles, Ashot Khacharyan was also in control, dismantling his opponent 6-0, 6-1. Khacharyan has won eight of nine matches and his dual match record is 8-3.

Mikheil Khmiadashvili won his eighth match in a row in a three-set contest. The freshman has been remarkably consistent in his first season on the Mission Campus, and he recorded the win in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 final.

Sam Bertram also went to three sets but came up just short. After splitting the first two sets, Bertram's Aggie opponent went on to win the decisive set in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 final score. The Bronco junior is now 8-4 overall and 5-2 in duals.

Jesse Ross battled hard in the third three-setter of the day, but was narrowly edged out. The match went into a first-set tiebreaker which New Mexico State won, but Ross came back well to take the second set, 6-2. New Mexico State emerged victorious in the third set, 6-4.

Be sure to check back on SantaClaraBroncos.com for more on the No. 49 men's tennis team and its upcoming matches! Stay up to date with Santa Clara men's tennis on Facebook and Twitter. Go Broncos!

 

 Position

 Santa Clara University

 New Mexico State University

 Winner

 Score

 #1 Singles

 John Lamble

 Strahinja Trecakov

 Santa Clara University

 7-6, 6-3

 #2 Singles

 Ilya Osintsev

 Germain Degardin

 Santa Clara University

 6-1, 6-0

 #3 Singles

 Ashot Khacharyan

 Paul Denele

 Santa Clara University

 6-0, 6-1

 #4 Singles

 Mikheil Khmiadashvili

 Liam Goldberg

 Santa Clara University

 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

 #5 Singles

 Sam Bertram

 Patrick Pfister

 New Mexico State University

 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

 #6 Singles

 Jesse Ross

 Naveen Manivannan

 New Mexico State University

 7-6, 2-6, 6-4

 #1 Doubles

 Ilya Osintsev 
 John Lamble

 Naveen Manivannan 
 Marc Westgate

 Santa Clara University

 8-5

 #2 Doubles

 Ashot Khacharyan 
 Sam Bertram

 Patrick Pfister 
 Paul Denele

 New Mexico State University

 8-4

 #3 Doubles

 Mikheil Khmiadashvili 
 Jesse Ross

 Charles Baron 
 Germain Degardin

 New Mexico State University

 8-4