SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Kicking off a three-match homestand to round out regular season play, the Santa Clara men's tennis team jumped out early against visiting California State University, Sacramento and held off the Hornets by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon at the Degheri Tennis Center.

Having won two out of their last three matches, the Broncos are now 7-12 on the season and 5-4 while playing at home.

Opening up doubles play, the senior pairing of Sam Bertram and Ilya Osintsev, fresh off winning the West Coast Conference Player of the Week award in doubles, burst out the gates to a convincing 4-1 lead and finished off the No. 1 Hornet pairing quickly thereafter, winning 6-1.

Just next door, Mikeil Khmiadashvili and Ashot Khacharyan also added another victory to their recent winning streak with a 6-3 result against Christopher Clayton and Sean Kolar. The Eastern European pairing battled back and forth with the Hornet duo for the first five points of match but slammed the door, taking three out of the next four points to clinch the doubles point for the Broncos. Almost simultaneously, Max Heerinckx and Michael Standifer grabbed their first victory since the beginning of the spring season with a 6-3 win over Ayman Abdulwahab and Joaquin Marquez. The newcomer duo came out firing, grabbing a 4-1 advantage over the Hornet tandem and eventually sealed the deal.

Osintsev kept the Santa Clara momentum rolling into singles play. Overpowering Roy Brandys with his serve and shot placement, Osintsev jumped out to a 3-1 advantage. The lefty continued to run his opponent and eventually captured the first singles set of the dual match with a 6-2 victory. After trading points early on in set number two, the Santa Clara senior pulled away in the end, grabbing the 6-3 victory. Osintsev is nearly perfect in his last several outings, holding a 6-1 record and now has 63 career victories while wearing the red and white, tied for seventh place on the all-time Santa Clara men's tennis wins list.

Over on Court 2, Khacharyan responded from a loss in his last time out on the court with a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Niranjan Ram. The Sochi, Russia native served up a 3-0 lead to begin the match, traded points in the middle portion of the first set, but managed to corral the last three points. In set number two, the junior clamped down offensively and cruised to the lopsided victory. Khacharyan now has a team-high 17 singles victories under his belt, 10 of which have come in dual match action.

Having a commanding 3-0 lead in the match, Sebastien Mathieu, one of Santa Clara's two freshmen, provided the match clincher on Court 6. Taking on Abdulwahab, Mathieu found himself in a back-and-forth contest. After being deadlocked on multiple occasions, the Santa Clara freshman took a 6-5 lead and finished off Abdulwahab with the next point to grab the first set. From that moment on, Mathieu switched gears and overpowered his opponent en route to a 5-0 blowout after his opponent retired the match.

With the match result decided, the three remaining singles matches were completed on Courts 3, 4, and 5. Khmiadashvili grabbed the first set against Marquez but was defeated in the second set and third set tiebreak. Bertram, recently claiming the WCC Player of the Week Award in singles, was unable to maintain his winning ways, falling in straight-sets to Tom Miller. Finally, Heerinckx opened up his singles match with a 3-0 advantage but was outlasted in the end by Christopher Clayton.

The Broncos will return to action in just a few days when conclude WCC play by hosting Gonzaga University and the University of Portland this Saturday and Sunday. 

Santa Clara University vs. California State University, Sacramento

Doubles | Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles | Order of Finish: 1, 2, 6*, 5, 3, 4