SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Hosting Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University this weekend, the Santa Clara men's tennis fell to the Lions by a score of 4-3 on Friday before dropping its match against the No. 41 ranked Waves 4-0 on Saturday.

The Broncos and Lions battled back-and-forth on Friday afternoon but an LMU doubles point clincher proved to help the Lions come away with the one-point victory. Challenging a ranked Pepperdine squad the following day, the Broncos were unable to pull the upset and secure their first conference victory.

Santa Clara now sits at 5-11 overall in the spring, including 0-5 in West Coast Conference action. The Broncos will look to get back in the win column next Friday and Saturday when they make trips within the greater Bay Area to take on the Gaels from Saint Mary's College followed by a matchup with the Tigers from the University of the Pacific.

Match 1 | Santa Clara University vs. Loyola Marymount University

Playing for the first time since March 7, the Eastern European pairing of Ashot Khacharyan and Mikheil Khmiadashvili helped Santa Clara jump out to an early lead in doubles with a 6-2 winner on Court 1, picking up their second win on the season and breaking a two-match losing skid in the process.

However, the early Santa Clara success was short lived as LMU responded on Court 3 and then with the doubles clincher on Court 2. The crucial doubles point result would prove to be a important decider in the closely-contested matchup between the WCC foes.

Moving on to singles action, three Santa Clara upperclassmen responded with straight-set victories to keep the Broncos in the match for the time being. Continuing to play on Court 1 for the fourth consecutive match, Osintsev handled Charles Boyce 6-3, 7-5 to increase the Santa Clara senior's record to 11-5 and 9-2 in dual match play. With the victory, Osintsev sits comfortably at the No. 8 spot on the all-time Santa Clara singles wins list.

Junior Ashot Khacharyan also found the win column after cruising past 6-foot, 5-inch Errol Smith 6-4, 6-2. Khacharyan now has a team-high 15 victories on the year and has recaptured his winning form once again, now possessing a three-match winning streak.

Sam Bertram responded after a loss in his last outing to down Cristobal Rivera, LMU's leader in singles victories, by a score of 6-4, 6-4 to capture his seventh win on the year and 20th career victory as a Bronco.

Those three victories would not be enough for the Broncos as the Lions would go on to capture victories on Courts 3, 5 and 6 to steal a victory at the Degheri Tennis Center.

Match 2 | Santa Clara University vs. Pepperdine University

The Broncos were unable to muster a resilient performance against the Waves on Saturday afternoon.

Lautaro Pane and Luca Marquad, possessing a 6-1 record on the year as a doubles pairing, gave the Waves an early advantage in doubles with their 6-0 victory on Court 3. Guilherme Hadlich and Rakshay Thakkar followed suit and dispatched Khacharyan and Khmiadashvili by a score of 6-2 to capture the doubles point and put the Waves up 1-0 heading into singles.

Three consecutive victories in the final three lineup positions eventually gave Pepperdine its 13^th victory of the year. Sebastien Mathieu fell by a score of 6-0, 6-1 on Court 5 and Max Heerinckx was defeated 6-2, 6-0 to give the Waves a match-clinching opportunity with their next victory. Pedro Iamachkine, now Pepperdine's leader in singles victories with 14, provided the winning result with his 6-4, 7-5 victory over Bertram.

With the match decision in the books, the three other singles matchups were suspended. The top-three Santa Clara singles competitors were all locked in tightly-contested matches with their Wave opponents. Osintsev dropped the first set 4-6 against Hadlich, a winner of four matches in a row, but the Novosibirsk, Russia native rallied to claim a 6-2 second set winner. Khmiadashvili, playing on Court 3, also dropped his first set but responded with a 6-3 result in set number two against Rakshay Thakkar. Khacharyan, competing against 6-foot, 5-inch Stefan Menichella, dropped his first set 6-2 and was trailing in a close second set by a score of 6-5.

Santa Clara University vs. Loyola Marymount University

Santa Clara University vs. Pepperdine University