Men’s Tennis Continues Homestand with Weekend Matches

Sebastien Mathieu

Posted: Jan 21, 2016

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Fresh off its first win of the season, the Broncos continue their homestand this weekend with a back-to-back matchup against Grand Canyon University and Holy Names University. Action begins when the Broncos challenge the Lopes from Grand Canyon at 3 p.m. on Saturday and wraps up with a match at 1 p.m. against the Hawks from Holy Names on Sunday.

Update (Saturday, Jan. 23 | 2 p.m.): Saturday's Match vs. Grand Canyon Postponed

During the Coach Mills era, the Broncos have never faced Grand Canyon and have only competed against Holy Names once, a 5-2 home victory last season.

"We came out with a strong performance in our first match of the season on Wednesday but we need to ramp it up and prepare well for a tough couple of matches this weekend," said Head Coach Derek Mills.

The Broncos

Opening up the dual match season on Wednesday, Santa Clara routed Sonoma State University by a score of 7-0. After two 6-1 victories in doubles play, all six singles competitors on the Santa Clara side rolled to straight set victories to help capture the win.

Ashot Khacharyan, leading the way for Santa Clara at the No. 1 singles position, enters the weekend with 51 career singles victories and a 2-1 mark on the year. Although the senior has never competed against Grand Canyon, Khacharyan is familiar with Holy Names after cruising to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Hawks' Matt Halligan last year.

Behind Khacharyan, the Bronco underclassmen will be carrying the load. Connor Garnett, leading the squad with four singles wins on the year, comes into Saturday after cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 result against Sonoma State while competing at the No. 4 position. Behind the freshman from Bellevue, Washington, Robert Seby and Andrew Gu will look to continue their winning ways and seek their fourth wins of the year after claiming victories on Courts 2 and 3 respectively this past Wednesday.

At the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, Santa Clara fielded Kamran Khan and Sebastien Mathieu against the Seawolves on Wednesday resulting in two wins and the surrender of only six points in total.

In doubles, the Broncos shuffled their roster and assembled three new tandems in their opener. Khacharyan and Gu along with Seby and Garnett found rhythm early on en route to identical 6-1 victories.

Grand Canyon

Off to a 1-1 start to the dual match season, the Lopes come into Santa Clara on a one match winning streak, having swept Montana State University at a neutral site location last Sunday. In their season opener the day before, the Lopes fell to No. 59 Boise State University by a score of 5-2.

In singles, Mitch Maroscher leads Grand Canyon at the No. 1 spot. After dropping his first dual match this year against Boise State, the junior battled to a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Montana State. Behind Maroscher, Alexander Roggenkamp and Mathieu Rajaonah power the Lopes singles attack. Both competitors enter Saturday undefeated at 2-0 in singles action this year.

On the doubles side, the senior duo of Felix Schueller and Roggenkamp lead the way competing at the No. 1 doubles position. Leaving their match against the Broncos unfinished, the tandem turned around the following afternoon and bested their Montana State opponents 6-2.

Since moving to the Division I level two seasons ago, the Lopes possess a 24-18 record. Last year, Grand Canyon finished 11-9 overall and 3-2 while competing in the Western Athletic Conference.

Holy Names

Beginning its season with four exhibition matches, Holy Names comes into the Degheri Tennis Center with one match under its belt this dual match season. Competing against the Gaels from Saint Mary's College on Monday, the Hawks fell by a score of 6-1.

In doubles action against the Gaels, the three Hawk tandems compiled 13 points but were outlasted in the end. Transitioning to singles, five out six Hawk competitors fell in straight sets. Holy Names' lone singles victory came courtesy of a 6-4, 6-3 winner from Bernardo Moraes.

During fall play, eight Hawk competitors saw action, battling to total a 22-12 record in singles play. Halligan led the way with five victories for the Hawks, all via the three set or tiebreak fashion. His freshman teammate, Hugo Colpart, followed suit with 4-2 mark during fall play courtesy of straight set victories. Jonah Tahilan rounded out the Hawks' singles output with a perfect 4-0 record. In doubles, the junior pairing of Halligan and Colpart carried the load, finishing at 5-2 in tournament play.

Admission & Parking: Admission is free to Degheri Tennis Center. Parking is available in either the Leavey Center lot or the main campus parking structure. Click here for a campus parking map.