March 23, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's tennis team saw its nine-game winning streak come to an end on Friday afternoon at the Degheri Tennis Center. The No. 63 Broncos fell 4-3 to the No. 75 Cornell Big Red in a back-and-forth match. Cornell pulled out the doubles point with a tiebreaker win in the deciding match and then came back from a 3-1 overall deficit to win the match. Brian Brogan, Bobby Rasmussen and Blane Shields won singles matches for SCU.
With Brogan out of doubles due to finals and Kevin McQuaid sidelined with an injury, the Broncos rolled out a new pair at No. 3 doubles as Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong teamed with Jay Wong. The new pair found themselves in the deciding match after Jan Macek and Rasmussen lost 8-6 at No. 1 and Robert Gallman and Shields won 9-7. Wong and Hirakawa-Wong got the match into a tiebreaker against Joshua Goldstein and Weston Nichols; however, the Big Red were too strong in the tiebreaker holding SCU to just one point to claim the win. Macek and Rasmussen had a chance at No. 1 singles, but they lost the last three games of the match to fall 8-6.
SCU exploded out of the gate in singles with impressive performances by Rasmussen, Shields and Brogan to get out to a 3-1 lead. Rasmussen defeated Rory Heggie to stretch his personal winning streak to seven straight to tie the match at 1-1. Shields then followed up with a dominating 6-4, 6-2 win that kept him perfect in singles in 2007 with a 6-0 mark. Brogan, who arrived at the match just before singles started after taking a final, won at No. 2 and the Broncos appeared headed towards victory.
However, Cornell responded with Peter Kung beating Tommy Hicks 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5. The final two matches came down to the third set and Cornell proved to be too tough. Dan Brous beat Wong 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 3 and Nick Brunner followed that with a 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 to clinch the match.
Santa Clara falls to 12-5 on the season. The Broncos get right back in action on Saturday, March 24 with a match against Montana State at 3:00 p.m. PT at the Degheri Tennis Center.
No. 75 Cornell def. No. 63 Santa Clara 4-3
Doubles: (Order of finish 1, 2, 3)
1. COR Nick Brunner/Josh Raff def. SCU Jan Macek/Bobby Rasmussen 8-6
2. SCU Robert Gallman/Blane Shields def. COR Dan Brous/Rory Heggie 9-7
3. COR Joshua Goldstein/Weston Nichols def. SCU Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong/Jay Wong 9-8 (1)
Singles: (Order of finish 4, 6, 2, 5, 3, 1)
1. COR Nick Brunner def. SCU Jan Macek 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-1
2. SCU Brian Brogan def. COR Josh Raff 7-5, 6-2
3. COR Dan Brous def. SCU Jay Wong 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
4. SCU Bobby Rasmussen def. COR Rory Heggie 6-2, 6-3
5. COR Peter Kung def. SCU Tommy Hicks 6-3, 6-4
6. SCU Blane Shields def. COR Jonathan Fife 6-4, 6-2
