Posted: Mar 13, 2018
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis are on the road this week traveling to 47th-ranked Oregon on Thursday and Boise State on Saturday. The Broncos will look to rebound after last Sunday's loss to Fresno State, snapping its eight match win streak.
"It was a disappointing performance against Fresno State," said Bronco head coach Niall Angus matter of fact. "It was partly due to the layoff and with the uncertainty with the rain but we prepared well during the week. We were just flat against Fresno State and weren't able to get any momentum."
After returning from the Central Valley, the Broncos (8-3) got a day off on Monday and will practice indoors today due to the rain in the area.
"It will be a physical practice with an opportunity to hit a lot of balls. We want to find our rhythm and have to put it all together with two tough matchups coming up with Oregon and Boise State," said Angus.
Oregon, ranked 47th in the country, is the highest ranked team the Bronco have faced thus far this season. The Ducks are led by Thomas Laurent, the 13th-ranked singles player in the country. Oregon also features the nation's 21st-ranked doubles team in Laurent and Cormac Clissold.
The Broncos will not be short on confidence however having beaten couple of the Ducks players in the fall. At the ITA Northwest Regional Championships last October, Kamran Khan defeated Clissold 7-5, 6-4 and Connor Garnett beat Akihiro Tanaka 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 in the round of 32 to advance to the round of 16 in the 128 player draw.
In doubles, Jesus Tapiador Barajas and Vasileios Iliopoulos were barely edged out by the Laurent and Clissold duo, 8-6, in the round of 32.
Oregon (9-6) has lost its last four matches including two at home in Pac-12 conference matchups versus UCLA and USC.
After facing Oregon on Thursday at 5 p.m. PT, the Broncos will head to Boise State. The Broncos versus Broncos match up will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT.
Boise State (4-9) is coming off a weekend split on the road, defeating West Coast Conference's Pepperdine, 4-1, while losing to UC Santa Barbara, 6-1.