SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis went the entire first weekend of the 2017 dual match season without losing a set. After a 7-0 win against Holy Names on Saturday, the Broncos also won 7-0 in the first match of the day against UC Santa Cruz. Santa Clara then returned to the court an hour later and won 7-0 over Sonoma State completing the clean slate for the weekend.
"It was a tough test because having a smaller team and playing that many matches in two days, some of these guys playing six matches in two days, it shows how physically good we are at the moment," head coach Niall Angus said. "Trying to keep that energy up for every single match is always difficult so I thought we did a great job maintaining it from ball one all the way through to the end."
The Broncos went 5-0 in doubles matches on the day and 8-0 on the weekend. In the match against UCSC, sophomores Connor Garnett and Robert Seby won on court one 6-4. Sophomore Andrew Gu and freshman Vasileios Iliopoulos claimed a 6-2 win on court two to claim the point. Freshman Jesus Tapiador Barajas and sophomore Kamran Khan did not finish on court three due to an hour delay (court was wet due to morning dew) to start play in the morning.
SCU beats Sonoma State 7-0! Head coach Niall Angus was very pleased the squad's play on Sunday. #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/ohhnRgWZZ7
— SCU Men's Tennis (@SCUMTennis) January 30, 2017
"It's vital to claim the doubles point," Angus said. "For us to win that and go into the singles matches knowing we have a point in the bag is always a good thing. But with the team spirit we have, even if we were to lose that doubles point, I really believe everyone on that court can produce a good performance and win on the day. We need every guy every match and this weekend we had that."
SCU made quick work of Sonoma State in doubles play with both Iliopoulos and Gu and Tapiador Barajas and Khan winning 6-1 to clinch the point. Garnett and Seby finished their match and won 6-3 to complete the sweep.
Santa Clara took down UC Santa Cruz in order in singles play, with Seby on court one finishing first with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Garnett's 6-4, 6-1 on court three clinched the victory and Khan finished off the competition with a 6-2, 6-4 win on court six.
The Broncos showed no signs of fatigue in the singles matches against Sonoma State, winning no worse than 6-2 in each of the six matches. Tapiador Barajas picked up a 6-0, 6-1 victory on court four to start the Broncos off on the right foot. Gu provided the match-clinching victory on court two at 6-0, 6-2. Seby wrapped up the competition on court one with a 6-0, 6-2 win.
"We're looking forward to getting on our road matches and having some strong tests with LSU and Tulane," Angus said."
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