Men’s Tennis Comes Back to Defeat Nevada 4-1

Connor Garnett

Posted: Feb 11, 2017

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis rallied from behind to defeat Nevada 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Degheri Tennis Center. The Broncos dropped the doubles point and came up short in five of the first six sets in singles play before turning it around and coming away with the win.

"To me, this win told me more about the team than LSU's win did," head coach Niall Angus said. "We didn't play our best tennis today in doubles and we definitely didn't play our best tennis in singles. To come out there and battle the way we did and feed off the energy of each other was good to see."

Nevada (2-1) claimed the doubles point with wins on courts two and three to start the match. Sophomores Robert Seby and Connor Garnett won 6-3 on court one for Santa Clara (5-1) over Julien Evrard and Augustin Delahodde.

Garnett got the Broncos on the board first, winning his singles match on court three over Robert Margitfalvi, 6-4, 6-1. The rest of his teammates fell behind after the first set but sophomore Andrew Gu followed Garnett's lead and won on court two, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0, to give SCU the lead.

"I felt like I was playing well," Garnett said. "Rob (Seby) and I won our doubles match and I was just feeling good and it translated to singles. The energy picked up, I started winning and it's easier when you're winning to be loud and then the rest of the guys started getting loud and everybody fed off each other. It was just fun to be out here."

Momentum continued for SCU as Seby took care of business on court one, knocking off Julien Evrard 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Freshman Jesus Tapiador Barajas clinched the win for SCU on court four with his 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory on court four over Kostya Nesterenko.

Connor Garnett got the Broncos on the board, winning 6-4, 6-1 on court 3. #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/IYaaZP7bqh
— SCU Men's Tennis (@SCUMTennis) February 12, 2017

"It was a gutsy performance," Angus said. "We still need to do a bit better in the doubles and get off to a better start in singles but the heart was there and the spirit was there which was good to see.

Santa Clara returns to action tomorrow at Degheri Tennis Center when it faces UNLV at 11 a.m. PT.

A video posted by SCUMTennis (@scumtennis) on Feb 11, 2017 at 5:46pm PST

SCU 4, NEVADA 1
Feb. 11, 2017 | Degheri Tennis Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
DOUBLES
(1) Seby/Garnett (SCU) def. Evrard/Delahodde (NEV) – 6-3
(2) Margitfalvi/O'Donovan (NEV) def. Gu/Iliopoulos (SCU) – 6-4
(3) Nesterenko/Cilic (NEV) def. Khan/Barajas (SCU) – 6-3

Nevada wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2*

SINGLES
(1) Robert Seby (SCU) def. Julien Evrard (NEV) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
(2) Andrew Gu (SCU) def. Augustin Delahodde (NEV) – 1-6, 6-3, 6-0
(3) Connor Garnett (SCU) def. Robert Margitfalvi (NEV) – 6-4, 6-1
(4) Jesus Tapiador Barajas (SCU) def. Kostya Nesterenko (NEV) – 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
(5) Vasileios Iliopoulos (SCU) vs. Mile Cilic (NEV) – 4-6, 6-4, 3-3 unfinished
(6) Kamran Khan (SCU) vs. Peter O'Donovan (NEV) – 4-6, 7-5, 2-1 unfinished