SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Playing for the first time in nearly two and a half weeks, the Santa Clara men's tennis team returned to its winning ways with a 5-2 victory over Holy Names University on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, head coach Derek Mills earned his 100^th career victory as the leader of the Broncos.

After capturing the tightly-contested doubles point, three Santa Clara upperclassmen propelled the Broncos past the Hawks with straight set victories in singles play to clinch the team victory.

With the win, Santa Clara improves to 5-7 on the year. The Broncos will have a couple days to rest up before travelling south to take on San Diego State University and the University of San Diego this weekend.

Coming back from a lengthy layoff, the Broncos had to knock off the rust in the early moments during doubles action. Going down 1-0 on Court 1, Sam Bertram and Ilya Osintsev eventually found their groove and regrouped to open up a comfortable 5-1 advantage courtesy of Osintsev's useful bit of powerful serving. Holy Names closed the gap slightly but the Santa Clara senior duo closed the door with a 6-3 victory.

A Hawk victory on Court 2 pushed the doubles decision to Court 3. The newly assembled tandem of Ashot Khacharyan and Max Heerinckx found themselves in a back-and-forth match with Brook Workeneh and Jonah Tahilan. After falling behind 1-0, the Broncos rallied to eventually take a 4-2 lead. However, the Holy Names pairing clawed back and squared the score at 4-4. Now serving, Khacharyan utilized his power as well as his placement on subsequent returns to regain the lead for Santa Clara. Locked in a tight battle for the tenth point, Khacharyan and Heerinckx sealed the deal to capture the doubles point.

Transitioning to singles play, Osintsev continued to build his mid-season momentum by grabbing his 10^th victory of the spring after cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Tracy Beblie. Utilizing his lightning quick serve, the Santa Clara lefty jumped out to an early 4-2 advantage. The senior continued to press offensively and came away with the first set victory. In set number two, Osintsev was dialed in offensively and had his return game working to perfection, quickly putting away his opponent in seven games.

After a Holy Names victory cut the Santa Clara advantage to 2-1, Khacharyan put the Broncos back on track with a 6-3, 6-4 winner on Court 2, giving him a team-high 14 victories on the year. The junior went ahead early and eventually wrapped up a win in the first set. However, he found himself locked in a challenging clash with Matthew Halligan in set number two. After falling down 4-3 and struggling to attack with purpose, Khacharyan regrouped, put Halligan on his heels and grabbed the next three points to solidify the win.

With one more victory needed, Bertram provided the answer on Court 3. The Aussie came out firing and opened up a quick 3-0 advantage. He attacked the net with intensity and blitzed his way to a 6-3 victory in the first set. The Santa Clara senior continued to press in the second set and eventually clinched the Bronco victory with his 6-4 victory.

Playing out the rest of the matches, freshman Sebastien Mathieu overcame Tahilan in a third set tiebreak to win his first collegiate match by a score of 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (3). 

Santa Clara University vs. Holy Names University

Doubles | Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles | Order of Finish: 1, 6, 2, 3*, 4, 5