SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Looking to pull the upset, Santa Clara's hopes were dashed in a 4-2 defeat to the 65th-ranked Brigham Young University Cougars on Friday afternoon.
The Broncos (9-10, 2-3 WCC) squandered a chance to win the doubles point, fought back and forth in singles play to tie the match at 2-2 but the Cougars (15-5, 4-1 WCC) were able to fend off the upset attempt, winning two consecutive three set matches.
"It was a tough match," said Head Coach Derek Mills. "There was some tight matches at the end that could have gone either way. BYU played some really good points in some tough situations."
Friday's turning point came early on in doubles action. Already having a 6-0 sweep on Court 3 in their pocket, the Cougars stormed back from 5-0 hole on Court 1. Santa Clara's Robert Seby and Connor Garnett were blowing serves past the BYU duo and controlling play at the net. However, Shane Monroe and Andrey Goryachkov cranked up their energy and turned all of the momentum in their favor, winning seven straight games and the point.
"We kind of let doubles slip a little bit but I was really happy that we could rally to come back and get a couple of matches in singles," said Mills.
In singles, Santa Clara would square things up after the first three matches. In the only match to finish in just two sets all afternoon, Gu reignited some momentum for the Broncos with a 7-6, 6-2 decision against John Pearce.
Jeremy Bourgeois from BYU responded with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 winner over Kamran Khan on Court 5 but Ashot Khacharyan, playing in his second to last home match, regrouped from a first set loss to take both sets two and three by a score of 6-3. With the victory, the senior puts himself in a tie for 10th place all-time on Santa Clara singles wins list.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, they would be unable to tally another win. At the No. 6 spot, Sebastien Mathieu cruised his way to a 6-3 victory in the first set but lost his rhythm, falling to Jacob Sullivan 7-6(7-2), 6-2 in the next two frames. BYU's clincher came two courts over against Garnett, Santa Clara's singles leader. Goryachkov scored the 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 marathon match winner, ending Garnett's three-match winning streak.
"I think BYU just executed a little bit better on the big points," said Mills.
The Broncos will return to the courts in less than 24 hours when they host the University of San Diego at noon on Saturday for Senior Day.
"The guys are going to learn to win and we have a good team coming," said Mills.
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