By Rico Chow '12

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PALO ALTO, Calif. - The singles points turned out to be the difference as the No. 54 Santa Clara men's tennis team dominated the doubles play but ended up dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 38 Vanderbilt in the ITA Kick-Off Tournament in Palo Alto.

The doubles matches were all Broncos. Junior classmates Kyle Dandan and Nicolas Vinel were victorious in No. 1 doubles against Adam Baker and Ryan Lipman, defeating the Commodores pair 8-5. In the second doubles match, Tom Pham and Eugene Muchynski also grabbed a win from Alex DiValerio and Bryant Salcedo, 8-5.

Vinel and Pham were victorious at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles spots as well, posting wins over Blake Bazarnik and Bryant Salcedo. However, those would be the only wins in singles the Broncos were able to get.

In No. 1 singles action, Dandan suffered a close loss against the 43-ranked player in the national, Vandy's Ryan Lipman (6-4, 6-3). Maxime Armengaud was one point short in the tie-breaker and just missed a win in the No. 2 singles match, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (2).

"This is a tough loss for our team. We played hard but just came up short. I am confident that the men on my team will bounce back and put in a great week of practice to prepare for the next game," said Santa Clara men's tennis head coach Derek Mills.

The Broncos will look to bounce back next weekend when they take on a tough West Coast Conference opponent in Pepperdine. SCU will travel to Malibu, Calif. to play the Waves at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5.

Go Broncos!

No. 38 Vanderbilt 4, No. 54 Santa Clara 3

Results

#1 Singles: VU No. 43 Ryan Lipman def. SCU Kyle Dandan; 6-4, 6-3

#2 Singles: VU Adam Baker def. SCU Maxime Armengaud; 3-6, 6-1, 7-6

#3 Singles: VU Charlie Jones def. SCU John Lamble; 6-3, 6-2

#4 Singles: SCU Nicolas Vinel def. VU Blake Bazarnik; 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

#5 Singles: SCU Tom Pham def. VU Bryant Salcedo; 6-0, 7-6(5)

#6 Singles: VU Alex Zotov def. SCU Keith Kamono; 6-3, 6-0

#1 Doubles: SCU Dandan/Vinel def. VU Baker/Lipman; 8-5

#2 Doubles: SCU Lamble/Armengaud vs. VU Zotov/Jones DNF; 7-6

#3 Doubles: SCU Pham/Muchynski def. VU Alex DiValerio/Salcedo; 8-5