Posted: Apr 21, 2018
MALIBU, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis punched a ticket to the West Coast Conference tournament with a 4-3 thrilling victory over Pepperdine on Saturday. With the match all squared at 3-3, Connor Garnett took down Brian Berdusco 9-7 in the third set tiebreaker to clinch the match for the Broncos.
Santa Clara (13-10, 5-4 WCC) locked up the fifth seed in the six team WCC tournament which will take place at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California next Thursday to Saturday.
Garnett, boasting the best singles record on the team at 17-4, fell behind a set before coming back to even out the match at one set apiece, 2-6, 6-2 against Berdusco on court three. Around the midway point of the third set, the Waves tied the match at 3-3 when Dane Esses defeated Jesus Tapiador Barajas 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 on court two.
The third set of the match between Garnett and Berdusco went to a tiebreaker where Garnett took a 4-1 lead before Berdusco came back to take a 6-5 lead, a point away from the match clincher. However, Garnett came back to seal the match winning 9-7 as his teammates mobbed him.
The Broncos fell in a hole early losing the doubles point. Garnett and partner Kamran Khan took down Dennis Uspensky and Scotland Garapedian 6-2 on court three but Santa Clara lost its other doubles matches.
In singles play, Khan evened the match at 1-1 for the Broncos with his straight set win over Garapedian on court six, 6-3, 7-5. Khan and Garnett won two matches apiece for the Broncos.
The Waves went up 2-1 when Uspensky beat Andrew Gu on court one, 6-2, 7-5. The Broncos picked up the next two points on courts four and five when Robert Seby defeated Lautaro Pane 7-5, 6-1, followed by Vasileios Iliopoulos' 7-5, 6-0 win over Max Mendelsohn.
When Barajas went down on court three, it set up the showdown between Garnett and Berdusco for all the marbles.
Santa Clara will play the fourth seed Portland on Thursday in the WCC tournament.
When you clinch the match in a third set tiebreaker (9-7). #SCUBroncos take down @PeppTennis 4-3 to clinch the fifth seed in the @WCCsports tournament next week. #StampedeTogether #wcctournamentbound pic.twitter.com/OwyEEb3PJ6
— SCU Men's Tennis (@SCUMTennis) April 22, 2018
