Feb. 18, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Bronco men's tennis team, 1-0, are back in action this weekend as they head to Brigham Young University to take on No. 65 BYU on Feb. 20, and then No. 48 Denver on Feb. 21. Santa Clara is looking to get back to match play after having five of its last six matches postponed due to inclement weather. SCU has not played since defeating UC Santa Cruz, 6-1, on Jan. 31, and will be looking to extend its success against two of the nation's top teams.
"These are two really good teams. They are used to playing indoors and in altitude, so they definitely have an advantage there," said Santa Clara head coach Derek Mills. "It's been frustrating getting rained out, so we're ready to start playing matches again. This weekend is going to be an uphill battle; we're going to find out where we are at and what we need to work on."
On Fri., Feb. 20 the Broncos match up against BYU at 5:30 p.m. The Cougars are 4-2 this dual season and will be hosting Idaho State and Denver earlier this week before taking on Santa Clara. In its last match, on Feb. 9, 2008, SCU hosted BYU and fell 5-2 to the then-No. 71 Cougars. In that match, SCU junior Jay Wong extended his singles undefeated streak to four wins at the No. 1 position. The doubles pair of Wong and Steven Benvenuto pulled an upset against BYU's Cassidy Mears and Jonathan Sanchez, winning 9-7.
Sat., Feb. 21, Santa Clara will take on Denver, 5-4, at 11:30 a.m. on the BYU campus. SCU and Denver have not played a dual match since 2005, when the Broncos played the then-No. 75 Pioneers on April 2 in Albuquerque, N.M. Santa Clara defeated Denver 5-2. Former Broncos Taylor Bedilion, Jan Macek, Bobby Rasmussen, and A.J. Kerin grabbed singles wins in the match. The Pioneers head into this match after playing three matches last weekend, grabbing a win versus Montana State, but falling to Texas Tech and New Mexico.