Click here for an interview with Athletic Director Dan Coonan and doubles highlights

by Brandon Rebboah

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -  The No. 34 Santa Clara men's tennis program began the  West Coast Conference portion of its season with an impressive 4-3 victory over No. 40 BYU. The WCC match was highlighted by clutch doubles performances from all three Bronco tandems.

Santa Clara's doubles teams gave the Broncos a lead in the first portion of the match with three victories. Ilya Osintsev and John Lamble teamed up for an impressive win over BYU's top doubles duo of Georgy Batrakov and Patrick Kawka. Osintsev and Lamble put the Broncos on the board with a 8-4 victory. Kyle Dandan and Tom Pham paired up for another Santa Clara victory.

Senior Nicolas Vinel and junior Eugene Muchynski downed Keaton Cullimore and Michael Eraso in a back-and-forth match that had fans on the edge of their seats.

With the doubles point secured by Santa Clara, BYU battled back in singles. Batrakov, the ITA's No. 45 ranked singles player, defeated Dandan in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Lamble gave Santa Clara its first singles victory with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the No. 2 spot. After BYU tallied two more singles victories, Osintsev and Muchynski came up clutch for Santa Clara. Osintsev downed Francis Sargeant 6-4, 6-3 before Muchynski ended the dual match by outlasting Eraso 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

RESULTS

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