Group Goes 0-2 in San Diego

Men’s tennis squad falls to two opponents on the road

Claire McLoughlinTHE SANTA CLARAApril 2, 2014 

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Broncos team took a road trip to San Diego on Saturday but was unable to come away with wins over two San Diego-based teams.

Despite determined efforts, the Broncos dropped their matches to both opponents 4-0.

Competitions began Saturday morning against the No. 35-ranked San Diego State University Aztecs. The Broncos’ racquets came out swinging, their confidence renewed after a big win over Holy Names University on March 24.

Senior Ilya Osintsev and junior Ashot Khacharyan battled it out individually but failed to knock off their Aztec opponents. Osintsev went on to pair up with fellow senior Sam Bertram for a highly anticipated match against the No. 65-ranked SDSU doubles team. The match stayed close until the end, but Osintsev and Bertram ultimately fell to SDSU, 7-6, 7-6.

The Broncos returned to the court Sunday, taking on fellow West Coast Conference team in the Toreros of the University of San Diego, but a similar scene unfolded.

Osintsev and Bertram found themselves dueling it out with each of their Torero opponents, one of whom was ranked No. 46, but ended up on the losing end once again.

The Toreros continued to make trouble for the Broncos throughout the afternoon. Another doubles loss and a couple of singles defeats put the Broncos in a tough position to clinch the overall match point. By the end of the competition, San Diego had wrapped up the match 4-0.

Santa Clara takes on two WCC schools back to back, starting on April 3. The Broncos have a couple days to prepare for their conference matches against the Loyola Marymount University Lions.

The squad will take the courts at the Degheri Tennis Center at 1 p.m., and will return April 4 to host yet another WCC competitor, the Pepperdine University Waves, at 2 p.m.

Contact Claire McLoughlin at camcloughlin @scu.edu @scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.