Santa Clara University’s men’s tennis team lost 4-1 to No. 7 Mississippi State at the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament on Friday night in Starkville, Mississippi. Despite the overall loss, the Broncos’ doubles pair Luca Bluett and John Kim achieved a significant victory by defeating the nation’s No. 2 ranked doubles team of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez with a score of 6-4.
Bluett and Kim continued their strong performance from the fall season, when they became the first Bronco men’s tennis players to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships.
The tournament began a day earlier than scheduled due to inclement weather concerns.
Mississippi State fielded a singles lineup featuring five nationally ranked players. The match was clinched by No. 54 Benito Sanchez, who defeated Alexander Watanabe Eriksson 6-4, 6-1 at the top singles position. Santa Clara initially took the lead by winning two out of three doubles matches: Tiago Boschmans and Luca Lemaitre secured a win over Niccolo Baroni and Mario Martinez (6-3), followed by Bluett and Kim’s victory.
However, Santa Clara was unable to carry this momentum into singles play as Mississippi State quickly secured wins on courts five and four through No. 125 Raphael Vaksmann and No. 37 Mario Martinez, respectively. Both players dropped just three games combined in their matches, putting Mississippi State ahead on the scoreboard.
Niccolo Baroni added another point for Mississippi State with a 6-2, 6-1 win over John Kim on court three before Sanchez closed out the match.
Santa Clara’s record moves to 2-1 while Mississippi State remains undefeated at 5-0 with a national ranking of seventh.
The Broncos will next face Alabama in the consolation match on Saturday at 6 a.m. PT.
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