Broncos Beat Texas, Make History

By Matt Leff

The Santa Clara Men's Tennis Team, ranked 39th in the nation, made history this past weekend; not only did they advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time, but they also won the first NCAA tournament match in program history, beating 19th ranked Texas 4-1. 

It was a time of mixed emotions for the team and coaches who were both disappointed with the loss  but also proud of the amazing run they put together. Coach Derek Mills, 2012 West Coast Conference coach of the year, echoed this feeling after the match: "It was a huge effort. We just took the No. 10-11 team in the country to the max they could take on their home court," said Mills. "It was a huge deal because we had some match points in a couple matches and we just couldn't pull out the doubles point. We fought as hard as we could. We played them really close. Stanford was ready to play and so were we. 

Backed by the large fan-base that made the trip to Palo Alto, Santa Clara took control early from the Longhorns. Four years ago, Texas finished national runner-up, and boast a 40-31 record in 30 NCAA tournament appearances. They also reached the semifinals or better in three of the last six seasons. 

The number one doubles group, sophomore John Lamble and freshman Ilya Osintsev, defeated the Longhorns' number one pairing 8-6. "I knew we needed to come out with a lot of energy," said sophomore Lamble. "We did just that. We had an early break. We got broken back toward the end of the set but we kept positive and were able to win the match." 

The number two pairing, senior Kyle Dandan and junior Tom Pham, won their match as well, defeating Texas' number two pairing 8-5. These two wins enabled Santa Clara to capture the first point of the day. 

Texas grabbed their first point of the match in the number six singles spot. With the overall match then tied, Lamble defeated Daniel Whitehead in an impressive three set victory (6-3, 1-6, 6-0). Santa Clara then won the point from the number three singles match after a Texas player had to withdraw due to injury. 

On court five, Ilya Osintsev found himself up a set, with an opportunity to clinch the match. Despite falling into an early 4-0 hole in the second set, Osintsev thundered back, eventually acing his opponent in the set tiebreaker, and ultimately emerging victorious 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5). 

"Ilya's match was crazy," said Mills. "He was actually pretty far down in the set and clawed back into it. In the tiebreaker he reached down and (gave his best effort). He was the West CoastConference Freshman of the Year, there was a reason he got it. He did an awesome job." 

Osintsev was in similar spirits after the match. "I was really tired, but I had my serve," said Osintsev. "I got lucky and was able to win. It's big for Santa Clara, it's big for the whole team. We had a great season and we are just making it better. The crowd was awesome." 

Even though their run was cut short by Stanford in the round of 32 by a score of 4-1, it was a historic season for the Broncos, who have a solid foundation as they look forward to returning for next year's season. 

"We knew it was going to be tough, and what it took was a total team effort from all the guys and coaches," said Mills. "It was an amazing experience to be a part of. It was awesome."

Contact Matt Leff at maleff@scu.edu.