March 10, 2009
The Santa Clara men's tennis team returns to the Mission Campus this week to host Michigan State on Wednesday, UAB on Saturday and Northern Colorado on Sunday.
After falling to No. 1 Stanford and West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary's, the Broncos, 2-4 this season, are looking forward to defending their home court and continue their success at home.
The Broncos' No. 1 singles player, Jay Wong, is fresh off a 2-1 win over Saint Mary's Lucas Tirelli (4-6, 6-2, 6-3) and SCU's No. 2 singles player Kyle Dandan posted a 2-0 victory vs. the Gaels' Achim Christner (7-5, 6-4).
On Wed., March. 11, SCU hosts the Big Ten Conference's Michigan State at 3 pm in its first-ever dual season meeting. The Spartans (11-1) are coming off of three straight wins versus Ball State, Illinois State and IUPUI. MSU has not competed since Feb. 28, and faces the Broncos to kick off a three-match California road-trip.
Seniors John Allare, Alex Forger and Scott Rasmussen have been anchors for the Spartans this season, while freshmen Austin Brooks and Ronnie Hulewicz round out the MSU team. Allare has won nine of 11 singles matches this dual season, while Brooks and Hulewicz hold an 8-2 and 10-1 singles record, respectively.
Santa Clara then will host UAB on Sat., March 14 at 1 p.m. and Northern Colorado on Sun., March 15 at 3 p.m.
UAB (2-5) visits Santa Clara at the end of a four-match Bay Area road-trip. The Blazers start the week after winning two straight matches versus Chattanooga and Mercer, and travel to No. 46 UC Berkeley. Before coming to Santa Clara, UAB will take on Saint Mary's and San Francisco.
Northern Colorado (1-11) will host Washington before traveling to the Mission Campus. The Bears have struggled this season and start this week's play having dropped four consecutive matches.