Men’s Tennis Hits the Road to Face LSU and Tulane

Robert Seby

Posted: Feb 01, 2017

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis takes its 3-0 record on the road this weekend to square off against LSU on Friday at 3 p.m. PT and Tulane on Sunday at 10 a.m. PT.

"I think it's a great chance to test ourselves against two of the best teams in the country," head coach Niall Angus said. "Both of those teams are experienced, have been very successful and just played in the International Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-off where they both had good showings. It's a chance for our players to test themselves against the best players in the country, for us as coaches to test ourselves against some of the best coaches."

The Broncos enter the weekend without a blemish on their record or in the stat sheet, winning each of their first three matches by a score of 7-0 and not dropping a single set.

"Our team's passion for the game is incredible," Angus said. "We fostered some of that culture but it's a credit to them and the leaders of the team that managed to create that for the freshmen and we hope to continue to do that. Our team chemistry is really high and I think our work ethic is also impressive."

Sophomore Robert Seby boasts a 5-4 record for the year and won each of his matches on court one for SCU last weekend. Sophomore Andrew Gu won each of his three matches on court two over the weekend and now has a six-match winning streak dating back to the fall and an 8-3 record overall. Sophomore Connor Garnett played on court three for SCU and won each of his three matches to bring his match winning streak to four and his season record to 6-2.

"For me, it's fun to come to practice each day and work with our guys because they want to get better just as much as I want them to get better," Angus said. "We're all on the same page and working towards a common goal which is always fun."

Freshman Jesus Tapiador Barajas did not play in singles action in the first match of the season against Holy Names. However, he played on court four against UC Santa Cruz and Sonoma State and won both matches. Freshman Vasileios Iliopoulos has won his last four matches and is now 5-4 on the season. He won his first match of the season on court four then went 2-0 on court five. Sophomore Kamran Khan went 3-0 on the weekend including a win on court five and two wins on court six. Junior Max Heerinckx picked up a win on court six against Holy Names for the Broncos.

A nice game of Swedish Handball to start off practice! #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/6iuIRxZJuy
— SCU Men's Tennis (@SCUMTennis) January 31, 2017

LSU boasts a 1-2 record on the year but has played a challenging schedule. The Tigers fell at Memphis on Jan. 22, 1-6 but then upset No. 24 USF, 4-3, at the ITA Kick-off. They also faced No. 11 Florida and fell, 0-4.

Tulane is receiving votes in the Oracle/ITA Division I Rankings released on Feb. 1. The Green Wave boast a 3-1 record on the year, defeating Alcorn State twice (6-0 and 7-0) and also secured a 5-2 win over Pepperdine in the ITA Kick-off. The one blemish in their record came against No. 4 California when they lost 2-4. Junior Constantin Schmitz is ranked No. 54 in the most recent (Jan. 4) Oracle/ITA Men's National Singles Rankings.

"It's a good barometer of where we're at," Angus said. "We've got a talented, young team and if we go in there and everybody comes to play, we know we can win."

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