Oct. 20, 2006
Palo Alto, Calif. - Santa Clara University men's tennis took to the courts Friday at the ITA Northwest Regionals in Palo Alto and made a big statement. Three out of the four doubles teams moved into the second round, while in singles, sophomore Brian Brogan and freshman Jay Wong reached the third round. The Regionals feature 15 teams from the Northwest and some of the top players in the country.
In the first round of singles (Round of 128), Blane Shields, Steven Benvenuto and Jay Wong all posted wins, while Bobby Rasmussen and Tommy Hicks both lost second set tiebreaks to be eliminated. Brian Brogan received a bye to the Round of 64. In the Round of 64, Brogan defeated Matt Seeberger from Hawaii, while Wong eliminated Hawaii's Jeff Fitch. Seeberger was a two-time national champion in singles at UC Santa Cruz before transferring to Hawaii. Shields fell to the No. 1 seed Alex Slovic of Washington in the Round of 64.
In doubles, Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong and Aneal Vallurupalli knocked off a pair from Gonzaga 8-4 and Brogan and Wong teamed up to knock off Gustavo Loza and Stephen Weichert from Oregon 8-5. The Broncos top doubles team of Shields and Kevin McQuaid are seeded 13th and received a bye to the next round.
All of Friday's results follow. To view all the results from the Regionals, click here.
Doubles Round of 64 (Oct. 20, 2006)
SCU Hirakawa-Wong/Vallurupalli d. GON Dojcak/Womack 8-4
SCU Brogan/Wong d. ORE Loza/Weichert 8-5
ORE Gallardo/Verdasco d. SCU Rasmussen/Benvenuto 8-5
SCU McQuaid/Shields (13), bye
Singles Round of 128 (Oct. 20, 2006)
SCU Blane Shields d. CP Nick Berger 6-0; 6-1
STAN Eric McKean d. SCU Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong 6-2; 6-0
CAL John Petit d. SCU Tommy Hicks 6-3; 7-6 (4)
WASH Mike Ricks d. SCU Bobby Rasmussen 6-4; 7-6 (9)
FS Taylor Leiby d. SCU Kevin McQuaid 6-2; 6-4
SCU Brian Brogran, bye
SCU Steven Benvenuto d. NEV Arzhang Derakhshani 6-1; 6-1
SCU Jay Wong d. CP Rob Foy 7-6 (1); 6-1
Singles Round of 64
WASH Alex Slovic d. SCU Blane Shields 6-1; 6-3
SAC Anton Stryhas d. SCU Steven Benvenuto 6-1; 6-2
SCU Jay Wong d. HAW Jeff Fitch 7-5; 6-3
SCU Brian Brogan d. HAW Matt Seeburger 6-3; 6-3
