BOISE, Idaho – Competing against its third-consecutive ranked opponent, the Santa Clara men's tennis team pushed its match against No. 59 Boise State University to a third and deciding set in the final singles match but was outlasted in the end, falling 4-3 to the Broncos.
After responding from a doubles point defeat and a 3-1 hole after the first three singles matches on the road, Santa Clara rallied to tie the match at 3-3. With the match result coming down to the decision on Court 6, Sebastien Mathieu rallied to force a third set but dropped the final frame 6-4, giving Boise State the one-point victory.
"This is a tough one to swallow," said Head Coach Derek Mills. "The guys played with a lot of effort and came back a number of times to give ourselves a shot. Despite the loss, we can learn a lot from this result."
Boise State stormed out of the gates in doubles with a 6-1 victory on Court 3 over the newly assembled tandem of Sebastien Mathieu and Kamran Khan. In a much tighter fashion, Connor Garnett and Robert Seby found themselves in a close match against Boise State's No. 2 pairing of Brian Foley and Lewis Roskilly. With the 5-3 advantage, the Santa Clara duo captured the next point to even the doubles point at 1-1 and improve their doubles record to a team-leading 4-1 mark.
With the doubles decision on the line, Ashot Khacharyan and Andrew Gu found their rhythm early, opening up a 3-1 lead. Despite the advantage, Santa Clara's No. 1 tandem could not hold off Boise State's Kyle Butters and Toby Mitchell. The freshman-senior tandem rallied to tie the match at 4-4 before scoring the next two points and the doubles point.
Needing a response in the singles portion, Kamran Khan provided the Broncos with an answer, rolling to a straight set victory over Rokilly by a score of 6-4, 6-4 to give the Santa Clara freshman his fifth victory of the year.
Boise State responded on Court 3 with a straight set victory of its own to regain control. Butters, tied with a team-high eight wins coming into Sunday's matchup, cruised to a 6-1 result in the first set and rallied from a 4-3 hole in set number two to defeat Gu 6-4. With the loss, Gu's team-leading three match winning streak came to an end.
With Courts 1, 2, 4 and 6 pushed to a third set, Foley increased Boise State's lead to 3-1 after recovering from a first set defeat to down Seby 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Once again, Santa Clara responded and managed to cut into the deficit. Garnett, Santa Clara's leader with six singles victories coming into Sunday, dropped the first set of his match 6-3 but stormed back with a 6-0 rout in set number two. It took seven points in the third set but Garnett came away with the 7-5 winner to claim his seventh victory of the year.
With Boise State clinging to a 3-2 lead, Khacharyan knotted things up with a come-from-behind victory on Court 1. Riding a two match losing skid coming into Sunday, the senior responded from a first set defeat to grab the next two sets 6-2, 6-4, giving Santa Clara a shot to win on Court 6.
The Broncos will be back in action this upcoming Saturday when they return home to host the University of California, Santa Cruz at noon.