SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Entering the final weekend of dual match season play, the Santa Clara men's tennis team will have a full weekend of action against three ranked opponents as it jockeys for a spot in the WCC Championships.
The Broncos (10-10, 3-3 WCC) kick off a Southern California road trip with a match against No. 61 Pepperdine University (10-10, 4-3 WCC) on Friday at 1 p.m. before making the short trip to No. 69 Loyola Marymount University (9-9, 2-4 WCC) on Saturday at noon. Nearly 24 hours later, Santa Clara will return home to host No. 28 University of San Diego (18-7, 6-0 WCC) for its Senior Day on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Santa Clara currently holds the six and final spot for the WCC Championships bracket. The Broncos are sandwiched between the fifth seeded Waves and seventh seeded Lions while the Toreros from USD sit in first.
The Broncos
In its lone match last week, Santa Clara bested the University of San Francisco on the road by a score of 4-3 to even its overall record at 10-10.
Looking back over the years, all three Southern California programs have held the Broncos in check. Pepperdine has not lost to Santa Clara in the last five meetings, LMU has won the last two meetings and USD has captured a victory in six out of the last seven matchups.
Playing his final weekend of regular season action, Ashot Khacharyan, currently tied for ninth place on Santa Clara's all-time singles wins list, will look to continue his winning ways against squads that he has fared well against over the years. Combined, the Santa Clara senior is 2-1 against all three schools over the years with a number of matches that went unfinished. If Khacharyan were to win every match this weekend, he would finish with 63 career singles victories, tied for eighth place on the all-time list.
Behind Khacharyan, Andrew Gu and Connor Garnett are tied atop the team with 13 singles victories this season. Robert Seby has also chipped in as of late, winning three out of his last four matches, including the match clincher against USF.
As they have all season, Garnett and Seby continue to lead all duos with their 8-4 record in doubles. However, the freshman-freshman pairing is currently in a two-match slide. Gu and Kamran Khan have been able to pick up the slack, winning twice in their last two outings.
Pepperdine
Experiencing some ups and downs this season, Pepperdine returns home this weekend after falling in two road contests last weekend against BYU and USD. Despite the Waves' 10-10 record, all 10 of their losses have come against ranked opponents.
Guilherme Hadlich has led the Waves primarily at the No. 1 singles position this season and boasts a 13-7 mark on the year and 7-5 record at the top spot. The junior is 2-1 in his last three outings but was ousted in straight sets against the Toreros.
Aside from Hadlich, the Waves have reshuffled their singles lineup on a consistent basis with at least three different competitors seeing action at spots two through six. Lautaro Pane, one of Pepperdine's most prolific weapons, leads the team with 20 wins and six-match winning streak. He is 8-1 since moving to the second position. Pedro Iamachkine has also been a potent threat this year, winning 15 matches and posting a 7-1 mark at the No. 5 spot.
In doubles, Pepperdine boasts the No. 51 ranked doubles team of Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney and backs that up with the 21 win duo of Iamachkine and Pane.
LMU
Although they will be hosting the Broncos on Saturday, LMU's home courts have not been kind this season as the Lions are winless at 0-5.
Prior to playing Santa Clara, LMU will look to break a three-match slide when they travel to face off against the Dons from USF on Friday.
Throughout the spring, a number of different Lions have seen time throughout the singles lineup, however, not a single position has a combined mark over .500. At the No. 1 spot, Charles Boyce is 4-10 at the top position and a loser of his last six matches.
On the contrary, Cristobal Rivera has been a bright spot for the Lions this season, winning 18 matches. Errol Smith, standing 6 feet 6 inches tall, is also right behind with 15 wins. Both competitors played at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively in their last match.
Over in doubles, the No. 1 duo of Smith and Joat Farah is just 3-8 but Boyce and Rivera have been able to pick up the team with their 9-6 mark. The No. 3 pairing of Luke Bohuslav and Lukas Moenter has also been impressive as of late, wining three consecutive matches, including a 6-2 winner over USD.
USD
Riding a 24-match winning streak in WCC action, the Toreros have not dropped a single point in the last five matches, rolling to consecutive shutouts since March 25.
Before finishing up the regular season at the Mission Campus on Sunday, USD will make stops at the University of the Pacific and Saint Mary's College.
Stacked with firepower, the Toreros have two ranked singles players in their lineup. Uros Petronijevic, ranked No. 56, is 12-6 while competing at the No. 1 spot and has won his last five matches, all by straight set blowouts. Jordan Angus, ranked No. 63, is just behind with a 10-3 mark while playing at the No. 2 spot.
Aside from the ranked competitors, San Diego also has a 21-match winner in Filip Vittek, a 19-match winner in Romain Kalaydijan and a 17-match winner in Alexandros Araouzos. All three Toreros currently boast at least a four-match winning streak.
In doubles, a number of Torero pairings have been playing at a high gear. Petronijevic and Vittek, the 81st-ranked pairing in the country, are winners of their last five matches while Angus and Joshua page have not dropped a match in their seven appearances together this year.
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