Posted: Jan 27, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Under ideal weather conditions with temperature reaching into the mid-60's for its spring home opener on Sunday, Santa Clara men's tennis swept both UC Santa Cruz and Sonoma State, 7-0.
Santa Clara 7 – UC Santa Cruz 0
Santa Clara (1-1) cruised to a 7-0 sweep of UC Santa Cruz (0-3) in the morning session with the match clincher coming from Connor Garnett on court two over Ryan Dugan, 6-2, 6-1.
The Broncos clinched the doubles point with Robert Seby and Connor Garnett taking care of David Jackson and Sarthak Saxena, 6-0, on court three, followed by Vasileios Iliopoulos and Arthur Neuhaus deposing Ryan Gee and Kris Harris, 6-1, on court two.
In singles action, Santa Clara won all six matches while dropping just one set.
Freshman Santiago Hinojosa got things rolling for the Broncos picking up his first dual match win as a Bronco, beating Saxena, 6-0, 6-2, on court five to give Santa Clara its second point.
Senior Robert Seby shutout David Jackson, 6-0, 6-0, on court four to give the Broncos a 3-0 advantage with senior Connor Garnett clinching the match on court two over Ryan Dugan, 6-2, 6-1.
Freshman Arthur Neuhaus also picked up his first career dual match win beating Kris Harris, 6-0, 6-3, on court three.
Playing on court one, senior Andrew Gu needed three sets to beat Chad Le Duff, 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-4) to give the Broncos its sweep.
Santa Clara 7 – Sonoma State 0
In the backend of the double header, the Broncos (2-1) once again got off to a fast start dropping just three games against the Seawolves (0-0) to clinch the doubles point.
Iliopoulos and Neuhaus beat Igor Pissarenko and Josh Liu, 6-1, on court two with Garnett and Seby besting Nicky Valdecanas and Alec Wong, 6-2, on court three to clinch the doubles point.
Broncos head coach Niall Angus changed the singles lineup from the morning match but the results were the same. Jesus Tapiador Barajas and Iliopoulos, who did not play in the morning singles session played in place of Garnett and Seby.
Khan picked up the second point for the Broncos on court six, beating Alec Wong, 6-0, 6-1. Hinojosa extended the Broncos lead to 3-0 beating Josh Liu, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0), on court five before Gu clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Santiago Sarudiansky on court two.
The day ended with a thrilling three set match on court one where Tapiador Barajas beat Nate Oppenheim, 6-4, 6-7 (9-11), 1-0 (10-8) finishing a perfect day for the Broncos.
Next up for the Broncos is a trip to Seattle, playing Liberty on Saturday in a neutral court match before facing Washington on Sunday.
