SANTA CLARA, Calif. – As part of its first annual SCU Men's Tennis Alumni Weekend, the No. 60 Bronco men's tennis team will host St. Mary's and Pacific in an exciting weekend of tennis and events on the Mission Campus. The weekend will features matches against two local WCC opponents as the team's final home matches of the season, Senior Day, a BBQ, and an alumni match.
On Fri., Apr. 18 the weekend will kick off with the Broncos hosting St. Mary's at 1pm. On Sat., Apr. 19 Santa Clara will face Pacific at 1pm, and the Bronco seniors will be recognized in between doubles and singles.
The BBQ will take place during Saturday afternoon's contest with Pacific, and drinks and lunch will be provided at the Degheri Tennis Center. On Sunday, the annual alumni match will be played from 10am until 12pm.
Santa Clara sports a solid 13-6 overall record and 3-4 mark in the WCC. The team is 10-2 at home, 2-4 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites.
The Broncos look to finish their regular season strong, move up in the WCC standings, and gain some momentum heading into the conference tournament next week.
The Broncos
Santa Clara faced a tough challenge on the road in Portland, and nearly pulled out the win against a competitive Pilots team. The match finished in a 4-3 final in favor of Portland.
The Broncos and Pilots played three close matches in doubles, but Portland ahead. At No. 3 doubles, Sam Bertram and Michael Tjuatjadarma couldn't knock off their opponents, falling in an 8-5 final. Santa Clara's No. 2 duo, Ashot Khacharyan and Mikheil Khmiadashvili, came up just short, 8-6. The Broncos' No. 1 doubles tandem, John Lamble and Ilya Osintsev, were tied 7-7 when the doubles point was decided.
The teams split singles 3-3 in a competitive battle that featured a controversial finish. The Broncos picked up wins in the top two spots and No. 4 to earn a 3-2 lead, but the Pilots narrowly came out on top in the decisive matches.
At No. 1, Lamble grinded out a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory. The senior upped his dual match record to a terrific 11-1 and he is 18-4 on the year. For his career, the righty sports a 78-35 overall mark and he has the second-most wins in program history.
Coming off an impressive straight-set win over Oregon's Robin Cambier, ranked No. 59 in the country, Bronco No. 2 Osintsev was excellent once again. The junior was a 6-4, 7-5 winner and moved to 12-1 during the regular season and 15-3 including the fall.
Osintsev was named WCC Singles Player of the Week for his terrific performances, becoming the first player to earn the honor three times.
Khmiadashvili picked up the Broncos' third win with a 6-2, 6-4 victory. The lefty from Tbilisi, Georgia earned the 11th victory of his freshman season.
After earning the doubles point, Portland won the No. 3 singles match, as Khacharyan was topped 7-6, 6-1. The Broncos still had the lead and were ahead 3-2, however, and looked to take one of the two remaining matches.
In the fifth spot, Portland came away with a three-set win to even it up. After dropping the first set, 7-5, Bertram rallied for a strong 6-2 win in the second set.
The match came down to the sixth position, and Jesse Ross battled hard against his opponent. The Pilots won the first set, 6-3, but Santa Clara tied it up 4-4 in the second set with Portland serving. Ross went ahead 0-40 and was one point away from earning the break and serving for the set. However, one of Ross's line calls was overruled, and because it was the third overrule of the match, the game automatically went to Portland. After winning his serve and tying it back up at 5-5, Ross was once again overruled on a call, giving Portland the set and victory in a controversial finish.
St. Mary's
The St. Mary's Gaels are 8-11 overall and 8-8 overall and 3-5 in the West Coast Conference. They are currently on a three match losing streak, haven fallen versus Pepperdine (4-1), Stanford (4-0), and USF (4-3).
In its last match, St. Mary's fell 4-3 versus USF on its Senior Day. After USF won the doubles point, the Gaels battled back and the match was tied at 3-3. St. Mary's senior Joakim Norstrom split sets with the Dons' Bernardo Saraiva before gaining a 5-4 lead and serving for the match. Saraiva did not give in, however, and pushed the match to a tiebreaker, where he won every point.
Pacific
The Pacific Tigers are 11-10 overall and 4-4 in conference play. With its most recent victory over LMU, 5-2, the Tigers started a new winning streak after falling to Pepperdine, 4-1. In the contest against LMU, Pacific jumped out to a quick start by winning the doubles point, behind victories in the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The Tigers rode strong performers from their No. 1 -4 singles players to lock down the match.
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