SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Returning to the Degheri Tennis Center for a Saturday matinee match against the University of California, Davis, the Santa Clara men's tennis squad fell 4-3 after a tightly-contested match.
Falling behind early in doubles, the Broncos were unable to build any momentum to rally in singles. The Aggies claimed three of the first four singles matches in positions four through six to secure the victory.
The loss drops Santa Clara to 3-2 on the year. The Broncos will regroup and head back to the courts next Sunday, February 8, when they host their local rivals from the University of San Francisco. This first West Coast Conference matchup of the year will begin at 11am.
Storming out of the gates, UC Davis' James Wade and Tom Lam grabbed the first doubles match on Court 3, winning 6-1. Over on Court 1, Santa Clara's duo of Ilya Osintsev and Ashot Khacharyan were unable to muster any momentum and eventually fell 6-2, giving the Aggies an early advantage.
UC Davis continued to press early on in singles. On Court 5, Everett Maltby won 6-0 in the first set over the Broncos' Max Heerinckx. The Santa Clara freshman came away with one game in the second set but was unable to push forward on the offensive end and eventually fell 6-1.
Right next door on Court 4, Sam Bertram found himself in a highly-competitive match against the Aggies' Brett Bacharach. The UC Davis junior jumped out early, grabbing the first set 6-1. Playing back-and-forth early in the second set, Bertram and Bacharach were locked at 3-3 until the Aussie started to find his rhythm and place shots out of Bacharach's reach. Bertram eventually took a 5-3 lead but Bacharach stormed back to win four consecutive points to win the set 7-5 and give UC Davis a 3-0 lead.
Santa Clara responded at the No. 2 positions courtesy of junior Ilya Osintsev. The 6-foot, 4-inch left jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first set but Wade would respond. After neither side could gain a two-point advantage early on, the set was knotted at 4-4 until Osintsev overpowered Wade to grab the 6-4 victory. In nearly identical fashion in set number two, Osintsev fought off Wade to claim a 6-4 winner and put the Broncos on the board for the first time on the afternoon.
With the Broncos staying alive, the match decision turned its attention to the matchup on Court 6 between Santa Clara's Sebastien Mathieu and UC Davis' Jesse Ross. The Santa Clara freshman came out firing to go up 1-0 in the first set but the Aggie opponent responded to take the first set 6-3. In a back-and-forth second set, Ross jumped ahead 3-1 before Mathieu clawed his way back to tie the score at 3-3 and then 5-5 before UC Davis eventually clinched the set by a score of 7-5.
After the match was decided, Santa Clara's Mikheil Khmiadashvili defeated Bryce McKelvie 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and Ashot Khacharyan clinched his 40th career singles win with a 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory.
Santa Clara University vs. University of California, Davis
Doubles | Order of finish: 3, 1
Singles | Order of finish: 5, 4, 2, 6*, 3, 1
|
Position |
UC Davis |
Santa Clara University |
Winner |
Score |
|
#1 Singles |
#122 Ashot Khacharyan |
Santa Clara University |
7-6, 4-6, 7-6 |
|
|
#2 Singles |
Santa Clara University |
6-4, 6-4 |
||
|
#3 Singles |
Santa Clara University |
6-4, 0-6, 6-4 |
||
|
#4 Singles |
UC Davis |
6-1, 7-5 |
||
|
#5 Singles |
UC Davis |
6-0, 6-1 |
||
|
#6 Singles |
UC Davis |
6-3, 7-5 |
||
|
#1 Doubles |
UC Davis |
6-2 |
||
|
#2 Doubles |
Unfinished |
4-4 |
||
|
#3 Doubles |
UC Davis |
6-1 |