SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Continuing its unbeaten start to the season, the Santa Clara men's tennis team rallied to upset the No. 50 University of North Carolina at Wilmington 4-2 in the opening match of the ITA Kick-Off on Friday. With the victory, the Broncos will play in the championship match tomorrow afternoon at 5pm.

"I'm really proud with the amount of fight and resilience that our guys played with today," said Head Coach Derek Mills. "Despite falling behind, they all regrouped and put forth a tremendous effort."

With the victory, Santa Clara improves to 3-0 on the year. The Broncos will play the No. 1 ranked Trojans from the University of Southern California tomorrow afternoon in the championship match. The winner will advance to play in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships in mid-February.

Despite falling behind both in doubles and singles, a host of Broncos responded with come-from-behind performances to give Santa Clara a chance to come away with the upset.

With the match on the line, Santa Clara's Australian native provided the finishing touches on Court 4. After dropping the first set 2-6, Sam Bertram paid back Xander Veyes in the second set by the same score. With one set to decide the match, the Santa Clara senior came away with a 6-4 victory to give the Broncos the win and propel them to the championship match.

It wasn't easy going for Santa Clara in the beginning moments. The Broncos found themselves in a hole early against UNC Wilmington after the Seahawk pairing of Zach Hublitz and Javier Restrepo defeated Mikheil Khmiadashvili and Bertram 6-1 in the No. 2 doubles position.

Playing for the first time together, Sebastien Mathieu and Michael Standifer pulled the Broncos back into the match with a 6-2 victory at the No. 3 position. With the deciding doubles point at stake, veterans Ilya Osintsev and Ashot Khacharyan provided the clincher for Santa Clara. The pairing picked up their third win of the dual match season and remain undefeated after corraling a tight 6-4 victory.

Despite gaining the early advantage, the Broncos once again fell behind in singles. Two Santa Clara losses at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions propelled UNC Wilmington into the lead for the first time.

Courtesy of their Eastern European natives, the Broncos rallied. On Court 2, Ostinsev cruised in the first set against Santtu Leskinen 6-2. Despite a second set surge from the Seahawk competitor, Ostinsev came away with a 7-5 win to even the match score at 2-2. In the process, Osintsev tallied his 55th career victory wearing the red and white.

Looking to regain the lead, Khmiadashvili provided the spark in the No. 3 singles position. After splitting the first and second sets against Hublitz, the Santa Clara sophomore picked up a 6-3 winner in set number three to put the Broncos one win away from capturing the match which Bertram would go on to secure.

Be sure to check on SantaClaraBroncos.com for more on Santa Clara's performance at the ITA Kick-Off championship match. Stay up to date with everything men's tennis on Facebook and Twitter @SCUmtennis. Go Broncos!

Santa Clara University vs. University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Doubles | Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles | Order of finish: 6, 5, 2, 3, 4*