By Rico Chow, '12

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No.54 Santa Clara men's tennis team begins its 2011 dual season Sat., Jan. 22 as it hosts Division II No.34 Sonoma State and UC Davis in an opening day double-header. The Broncos are coming off of a strong fall tournament season and are excited to get the 2011 season underway. The double-header begins as the Broncos take on Sonoma State at 10:00 a.m. followed by UC Davis at 2:00 p.m. Matches will be played at the Degheri Tennis Center.

Last season, the Broncos opened up dual-match play hosting UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis with a double header sweep. In the morning's first match versus Division III National Champion UC Santa Cruz, Tom Pham and Eugene Muchynski grabbed doubles wins to give the Broncos an edge going into the singles play. Muchynski also went on to dominate the singles match and presented the Broncos 4-0 victory over the Banana Slugs.

In the day's second contest versus UC Davis, Santa Clara carried over its momentum from the first match to score another 4-0 win. Kyle Dandan and Nicolas Vinel won their first doubles match of the season versus Hunter Lee and Nick Lopez, 8-3. On the singles side of play, Pham swept their opponents giving Santa Clara their second 4-0 win of the day.

In a previous match against Sonoma State, the Broncos had a clean sweep in doubles play. The freshman duo Tom Pham and Eugene Muchynski grabbed 8-1 decisions over their opponents. Kyle Dandan took a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Connor Olson at the No. 1 position, while Pham and Muchynski grabbed wins in the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions.

The Broncos had one of the program's best-ever seasons last year and they are determined to continue their success.  Action begins against Sonoma State at 10:00 am on Saturday, Jan. 22. First serve versus UC Davis is set for 2:00 pm.

Go Broncos!