Feb. 2, 2008
Santa Clara, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's tennis team hosted conference rival Loyola Marymount in a 5-2 loss. In singles, Jay Wong and Steven Benvenuto earned wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively. Wong, the last singles match of the day, faced LMU's Jacek Twarowski in a thrilling three set match. After winning the first set, 6-4, he fell 3-6 in the second set. Behind a rallying crowd Wong battled back in the third set to defeat Twarowski 5-2, and to earn a singles point. At the No. 2 position, Benvenuto earned his second singles victory of the season with a two set win, 6-4, 6-2, over the Lions Sam Tadevosian.
Benvenuto and Wong then paired up to play at the No. 1 doubles position against LMU's Renzo Maggi and Tadevosian. After battling back and fourth, and being the last match on the court for the day, the fell 8-6.
"Today the guys played very hard," said Coach Derek Mills. "The young players were able to get more experience at this level, and showed a lot of potential and heart. The weather definitely had an impact on today's play, because we had not been able to play or practice much in the last two weeks. Jay and Steven played well and were able to get some wins for us. We are just going to continue to work hard, and hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can be out on the courts to prepare for BYU next week."
The Broncos will resume dual action on Saturday February 9, at 12:00 p.m., when they host No. 69 BYU.
Doubles
No. 1 Renzo Maggi/Sam Tadevosian d. Steven Benvenuto/Jay Wong 8-6
No. 2 Johan Berhof/Jacek Twarowski d. Senthil Chidambaram/Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong 8-3
No. 3 Ivan Lopez/Nick Von Der Ahe d. Charlie Burke/John Iwanski 8-3
Singles
No. 1 Jay Wong d. Jacek Twarowski 6-4, 3-4, 5-2
No. 2 Steven Benvenuto d. Sam Tadevosian 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 Ivan Lopez d. Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong 1-6, 3-6
No. 4 Renzo Maggi d. Senthil Chidambaram 6-7, 2-3
No. 5 Johan Berhof d. Charlie Burke 1-6, 0-6
No. 6 Stefan Nikolic d. Justin Wong 2-6, 6-4, 0-6