SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Competing against the No. 66-ranked Fresno State University Bulldogs, the Santa Clara men's tennis team came away with a 5-2 upset victory to remain unbeaten to start 2016.
Locked in three tightly-contested matches against the Bulldogs' doubles tandems, Santa Clara (3-0) responded from a defeat in a Court 1 matchup and two 5-3 deficits on Courts 2 and 3 to capture the doubles point. Later, threes wins out of the first four singles matches gave Santa Clara its third consecutive victory to open the season and first win over a ranked opponent in 2016
"That was a huge win for us," said Kamran Khan, after clinching Santa Clara's upset with his singles victory. "First ranked team, that's huge. Everybody played really well. It was so exciting, such a great start (to the season)."
Kicking off the match, Fresno State (1-1) jumped out on top with a 6-4 victory against Santa Clara's No. 1 duo of Ashot Khacharyan and Andrew Gu.
Tied 2-2 at the No. 3 position, Jeffrey Liang and Khan dropped two consecutive points to Patrik Pech and Youssef Hassan but rallied to tie the match at 5-5. After trading the next two points, the Bronco pairing came away with the 7-6 result in the tiebreaker, evening the doubles score at one apiece.
"It was the fight," said Khan. "Everyone was down. We were down 5-3, Jeff hit a clutch volley and we came back. Everybody had a competitive and fighting mentality today. That was huge. They were a great team."
Down 4-2 on Court 2, Robert Seby and Connor Garnett started to find their rhythm in the return game and eventually broke their opponents' serve to tie the match at 5-5. With the match later square at 6-6 and the doubles point up for grabs, the freshmen duo defeated Nikolas Papic and Jeremy Moser in the tiebreaker to give Santa Clara the 1-0 lead early.
"The doubles was electric," said Garnett. "It was so nerve racking out there but the energy out there was amazing. We were super pumped up and Rob and I were feeding off each other."
Transition to singles, Garnett kept the momentum rolling, winning his third consecutive match 6-1, 6-3 over Mantas Bugailiskis. The Santa Clara freshman ran his opponent in the first set and held on in the second set with precise returns giving the Broncos a 2-0 cushion over Fresno State and his team-leading sixth victory of the year.
"I'm feeling good," said Garnett. "The energy out there and the team environment, I feel like I belong and it's a good feeling and I'm playing well with it."
Despite Khacharyan's 6-0, 6-4 defeat at the No. 1 spot, Santa Clara kept its distance courtesy of Seby's three set, come-from-behind, victory. Dropping set number one by a score of 6-1, the Oro Valley, Ariz. native responded in the second set. Despite being down 4-2 in the second frame, Seby stormed back to take the 6-5 lead and capped the set at 7-5 with a powerful return. In set three, Seby turned up his attack and ran his opponent from end line to end line, cruising to a 6-1 win.
"I got better depth and started dictating with my forehand and coming in more," he said. "I used that momentum and positive energy that everyone was giving off in the stands and rode it into the third set and took it home."
With one more victory needed, Khan secured the upset with a 7-5, 7-5 result on Court 4 to improve his record to 4-1 on the year. The freshman also found himself down 2-4 but rallied to take the next three points and eventually the set. In the second frame, the Dallas, Texas native led through and through to lock down both his and Santa Clara's third consecutive win.
"I was really just focused on dictating my forehand and just trying to play my game," said Khan. "I had to play with more bravery and just clutch it out. I just stayed with it and stayed focused."
After the result was finalized, Sebastien Mathieu's two-match winning streak was ended after he fell to Pech 7-6, 6-4. On Court 3, Gu finished the day with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 victory to give him five wins on the year and three in a row.
Next up, the Broncos make a quick turnaround and head to Stanford University to take on the Cardinal this Tuesday.
"We just got to keep putting in the work at practice and having that positive team atmosphere and energy," said Garnett.
