DAVIS, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis had another succesful day of competition at the UC Davis Aggie Invitational on Saturday. The doubles duo of sophomores Connor Garnett and Robert Seby advanced to the semifinal.
Garnett and Seby advanced to the semifinal over No. 4 seed William Genesen and Roy Lederman of Stanford. The Broncos were up 7-4 before the Cardinal retired due to injury. Garnett and Seby will compete against David Goulak and Tommy Lam (UC Davis) in the semifinal at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday for a trip in the final at 10 a.m. Jose Chamba Gomez and Alex Giannini (Pacific) defeated sophomore Andrew Gu and freshman Vasileios Iliopoulos in the quarterfinal round, 8-5.
"Those guys (Garnett and Seby) finished last year pretty strong so we were looking for them to establish themselves as a strong doubles team moving forward," head coach Niall Angus said. "They really stepped up to the plate and set the tone for rest of the year. It was a pretty solid performance from start to finish for them. Now, I'm looking for them to push on and take on this opportunity in the semifinal tomorrow."
Freshman Jesus Tapiador Barajas squared off against No. 7 seed Mikus Losbergs (Sacramento State) in the singles flight A quarterfinal. The Spaniard challenged him but in the end came up short, falling, 6-4; 2-6; 6-3. Gu was in the flight A consolation quarterfinal and he fell to Vincent Rettke (Gonzaga), 1-6; 7-5; 1-0 (7).
"I was pleased with Jesus," Angus said. "He's gotten better and better with each match. He won yesterday but there were still things he needed to learn from. Throughout the tournament he improved and learned from his mistakes. This tournament will make him better moving forward. He was toe-to-toe with the guy from Sacramento State but some of the inexperience came out. Moving forward, he'll be a tough player for the Broncos."
In some of the bonus, unofficial matches that the student-athletes are able to play, Seby and Iliopoulos were able to get some victories that Angus was pleased with. The head coach thought they were very positive results.
Garnett and Seby are the lone Broncos competing on Sunday with their semifinal matchup beginning at 8:30 a.m.
UC Davis Aggie Invitational – Saturday Results
Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2015 at Marya Welch Tennis Center
Singles
Quarterfinal – Flight A
Mikus Losbergs (Sacramento State) def. Jesus Tapiador Barajas, 6-4; 2-6; 6-3
Quarterfinal – Flight A Consolation
Vincent Rettke (Gonzaga) def. Andrew Gu, 1-6; 7-5; 1-0 (7)
Doubles
Quarterfinal – Flight A
Garnett/Seby (SCU) def. No. 4 Genesen/Lederman (Stanford), 7-4 (injury)
Chamba Gomez/Giannini (Pacific) def. Gu/Iliopoulos (SCU), 8-5
Quarterfinal – Flight B
No. 3 Maltby/Ross (UC Davis) def. Barajas/Khan (SCU), 8-3