SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's tennis is about to begin a new era under newly hired head coach Niall Angus with Sept. 30 as the first day of competition for the 2016-17 season.
The fall slate of tennis matches is always important but even more so for this Broncos squad. With a team that doesn't have a senior and only two upperclassmen, the experience they can gain during the fall is vital.
"With a young team, matches are important," Angus said. "We're trying to get them to play as many solid, rounded matches as we can get them to play in the fall, for the incoming freshmen in particular. In general, I want to get the team ready to compete at a Division I, nationwide-level in the spring."
Angus is hopeful that everybody rises up, continues to grow and doesn't use their youth as an excuse.
"The returning guys, I'm looking for them to show a little bit more maturity this year now that they have some experience under their belts," Angus said. "I'd like to see them start to excel in some of these tournaments."
The reigning West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year Robert Seby returns to the squad this year as a leader and somebody that is capable of excelling during the fall.
"After such a great freshman year, Robert Seby, we're looking for him to take that and run with it" Angus said. "We're looking for him to improve on what he's already had as a good start to his college career."
Sophomore Andrew Gu wasn't able to fully participate in the 2015 fall season due to injury and Angus believes that this year will be good experience to help him build on his performance in the spring last year.
Sophomores Kamran Khan and Connor Garnett both had good offseasons in Angus' eyes and this fall will be a chance for them to flourish and put to work all the quality training from the summer.
Angus is excited for juniors Max Heerinckx and Sebastien Mathieu because the fall is a chance for them to get back on the court and get into the swing of things after missing some time.
On a personal level, the head coach is anxious to get started and watch his team improve.
"For me, this is the fun part," Angus said. "It's getting back on the road, playing some matches, having the guys around and getting back in the swing of it in practice. Having them work hard, having the guys really buy into the working hard philosophy is the exciting part of the job for me. So, seeing those guys achieve is what I'm looking forward to in the fall."
The first tournament for the Broncos is the UC Davis Aggie Invitational on Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 in Davis, California.
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