Men’s Tennis Wins Tight Matchup with USF

Freshman Robert Seby propels Santa Clara with tiebreaker victory

Jack PriceTHE SANTA CLARAApril 21, 2016

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Santa Clara men’s tennis team took down USF this past weekend in a close 4-3 win. Earlier this season, Santa Clara lost to San Francisco 3-4 at the Mountain Pacific Invitational.

Sitting at 10-10 overall and sixth place in the WCC, Santa Clara’s last weekend will help with seeding in the conference championships–which are only a little over a week away.

“This is the time to get ourselves back in the hunt,” head coach Derek Mills. “Our match against USF earlier this season could have gone either way. This time we need to show up ready to jump on them early and play with some urgency.”

First year Robert Seby was a big part of the win for the Broncos specifically in the third set of his match. Playing in the number two spot, Seby is 12-10 overall this season. This match, he went 5-7 and 7-5 in the first two sets battling his opponent, Ryan Marker. In the final set, Seby put on the jets and won six unanswered games in the tiebreaker–bringing his team to victory.

“It’s always great to get a win on the road in WCC play,” said head coach Derek Mills. “I think in the end it was our best freshmen against theirs and our freshmen won.”

Similarly, first year duo Andrew Gu and Kamran Khan won their doubles match in the last game, going 7-6.

“I thought we played good doubles,” Mills said. “The guys were locked in.”

The other matches were close as well. Senior Ashot Khacharyan, playing in the number one singles spot, won his match after going neck and neck throughout the afternoon. Khacharyan edged out a 6-4 win in the first set. The second set went long, but he ultimately won 7-6 to help the Broncos get the victory. 

Khacharyan also came out with Max Heerinckx to play a quick doubles match. The senior-sophomore duo killed the competition in one set, winning 6-2.

This upcoming weekend the men’s team hits the road for LA to play Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount University Friday and Saturday respectively.

Pepperdine sits one place ahead of Santa Clara and LMU one place behind in the WCC. The team is excited for the challenge.

“It came down to Seby’s match in singles and he was able to come back,” Mills said. “I’m very proud of the performance he put in today.”

Contact Jack Price at jhprice@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.