SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Playing its first match out of four upcoming home contests during the next eight days, Santa Clara men's tennis welcomes Tulane University to the Degheri Tennis Center for a Tuesday matinee. The Broncos and the 28th-ranked Green Wave (11-4) will hit the courts at 1 p.m. (match orginally scheduled for noon).
This will be the second meeting between both programs during head coach Derek Mills' nine-year career as the Broncos leader. In 2013, the Broncos (6-6) rallied from an early deficit to scrape out a 4-3 victory.
"Tulane is one of the stronger squads in the nation," said Mills. "If we want to play with this level of competition and prove ourselves, we need to play without complacency and compete aggressively for every point."
The Broncos
Unbeaten at home, the Broncos will look to extend their protect their home courts as well as grab their seventh victory of the season against Tulane. Santa Clara knocked off its first ranked opponent of the season in Fresno State University back in January but has fallen against teams from the top 75 in its last four attempts.
Continuing to lead the charge at the No. 1 singles position, Ashot Khacharyan comes into Tuesday's match at 7-5 on the season. The senior sits above .500 while competing at the top position but is even at 4-4 during his last eight contests. Back in 2013, Khacharyan overcame his Tulane opponent in three sets as a freshman.
The Broncos' No. 2 competitor as of late, Andrew Gu is 2-2 since taking over at the second position. The freshman had dropped two in a row before rolling to a 6-3, 6-3 decision in his last match.
The streakiest Bronco of them all, Robert Seby has found a comfortable spot playing at the No. 3 spot. Despite falling in his first match at the new position, the freshman has rolled to three consecutive victories as of late, good enough to capture the West Coast Conference men's tennis singles player of the week last week.
Next door on Court 4, Connor Garnett continues to lead the squad with 10 singles victories on the season. All but one of his victories this season have come in the form of straight sets. In similar fashion on Court 5, Kamran Khan has nine victories to his name this season, all but one in the form of straight set decisions.
Rounding out the singles rotation, Sebastien Mathieu has been tripped up in recent time, falling in four consecutive matches.
A victory in the doubles point has resulted in six Santa Clara team victories in seven chances. Back to their original doubles rotation, the Broncos have sported Khacharyan and Gu together at the No. 1 position. The duo is 4-3 on the season. Competing at the second position, Garnett and Seby lead all Bronco pairings with their 5-1 mark. At No. 3, Khan and Liang are also 4-3 but losers of their last two matches.
Tulane
Tulane continues its five-match road trip when it visits the Mission Campus on Tuesday afternoon. Having just dropped a seven match winning streak in their last match on Saturday, the Green Wave are now 11-4 on the season, good enough for the No. 28 ranking in the country.
In their most recent bit of action, the Green Wave competed at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic, an eight-team tournament that featured eight ranked squads from around the nation. Tulane finished the competition in second place after besting No. 46 University of Denver and No. 34 University San Diego before being ousted 4-3 by No. 8 Texas Tech University.
A top heavy Tulane singles rotation, Dominik Koepfer, ranked No. 1 in the country for 10 consecutive weeks, sports a perfect 12-0 mark while competing at the top singles position this season. Next door on Court 2, 6-foot, 4-inch Constantin Schmitz, also ranked in the top-125, is 10-2 while playing at his position.
Sebastian Rey, holding down the third position, is 20-8 this year and 5-3 while playing at the No. 3 spot. The junior has been out of sync as of late however, falling in his last two decisions.
The No. 4 spot has been Tulane's weakest position this season. Altogether, five different competitors have combined to amass a 6-8 record. Most recently, Chi-Shan Jao fell in three sets to his Red Raider opponent.
Alex Van Cott and Tyler Schick round out the final two singles positions. Both competitors are a combined 6-6 while competing at those positions.
In doubles, the Green Wave also feature another ranked tandem. Koepfer and Chi-Shan Jao, coming in at No. 27, are 16-2 on the year and hold a nearly unblemished mark of 11-1 while competing at the top spot. Competing against Texas Tech, the Green Wave duo upset the No. 1 tandem in the country by a score of 6-4. In stark contrast, two Tulane pairings have combined to play at the second position this dual match season, resulting in a 1-8 record. Playing for the first time together at the No. 3 position this season, Schick and Nikolas Tukic were defeated on Saturday.
Parking & Admission: Admission is free to Degheri Tennis Center. Metered parking should be available in the Leavey Center lot, which is adjacent to the tennis center. Click here for a campus map and parking information.
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