Jan. 22, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After being delayed by an hour due to fog, the Santa Clara University men's tennis team opened its season with a victory over UC Santa Cruz, which was ranked fourth among Division III programs. The Broncos improve to 1-0 on the season, while the Banana Slugs drop to 0-1.
"The doubles point certainly set the tone for the start of singles," said Bronco head coach George Husack. "We got up early and finished very well."
The Bronco's swept the doubles matches to take the first point of the match. The first win came on Court 2 as Eric Kochanski and Zepponi took a 8-3 victory. The Broncos would then clinch the doubles point on Court 3 as Ben Hidalgo and Tyler Wilson posted a 9-8 (4) win. Moments later, Taylor Bedilion and Jan Macek would claim a 9-7 win to sweep the double competition.
"We played good doubles," stated Husack. "We came out ready to go despite the match delay and the cold weather."
Santa Clara would continue its strong early play in the singles portion of the match as it gained an early 2-0 lead. Wilson put Santa Clara ahead by two with his first dual match victory of his collegiate career. Wilson posted a 6-1, 6-4 win in the match with Bryce Parmelly.
Bedilion would win the third consecutive singles match for SCU with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Matt Seeberger. Macek would then follow with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kevin Casey to give Santa Clara a 4-0 advantage.
"We did a great job in applying pressure and not letting our opponents get away with any short balls," said Husack. "Our guys were attacking all over the place."
A.J. Kerin and Francisco Zepponi each won their matches to give the Broncos a 6-0 lead. Kochanski would lose a tough match in a third set super tiebreaker, 2-6, 7-6, 1-0. After both head coaches agreed to play a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set as the Broncos had already clinched the match victory.
Santa Clara returns in the afternoon to face UC Davis in the second half of its opening day doubleheader.
Doubles
1. Bedilion/Macek (SCU) def. Brunner/Seeberger (UCSC) - 9-7
2. Zepponi/Kochanski (SCU) def. Casey/Cohen (UCSC) - 8-3
3. Hidalgo/Wilson (SCU) def. Templeman/Parmelly (UCSC) - 9-8 (4)
Singles
1. Taylor Bedilion (SCU) def. Matt Seeberger (UCSC) - 6-4, 6-0
2. Jan Macek (SCU) def. Kevin Casey (UCSC) - 6-3, 6-4
3. Francisco Zepponi (SCU) def. Shane Templeman (UCSC) - 7-5, 6-2
4. Andrew Cohen (UCSC) def. Eric Kochanski (SCU) - 2-6, 7-6 (6), 1-0 (2)
5. A.J. Kerin (SCU) def. Matt Brunner (UCSC) - 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Tyler Wilson (SCU) def. Bryce Parmelly (UCSC) - 6-1, 6-4
