Santa Clara men’s tennis extended its win streak to ten matches by defeating Gonzaga 4-1 in the West Coast Conference opener on March 27 at the Stevens Center in Spokane, Washington.
The match marks an important start to conference play for Santa Clara, which now holds a season record of 14-2. The team overcame an early setback after losing the doubles point but rallied during singles competition to secure the overall win.
In doubles, Santa Clara won the first match but dropped the next two. Despite nationally ranked pairs Tiago Boschmans and Luca Lemaitre (No. 57), and Luca Bluett and John Kim (No. 50), it was Valentin Faure and Ferran Redza who managed a win for Santa Clara against Diego Herrera and Gus Krauel. However, Giovanni Branchetti and Jay Fairclough clinched the doubles point for Gonzaga by defeating Bluett and Kim 7-5 on court one.
Santa Clara responded strongly in singles play. Faure leveled the score with a straight sets victory over Tom Dunlop on court five. Alexander Watanabe Eriksson then gave Santa Clara a lead by beating Oscar Rashed on court one. Bluett followed with a win against Herrera, while Kim secured the final point over Branchetti to seal Santa Clara’s tenth consecutive victory.
According to match notes, two other singles matches remained unfinished as Santa Clara reached four points first: Jay Fairclough versus Lemaitre, and Nicholas Reeves versus Lukas Maskow.
Looking ahead, Santa Clara will continue its road trip with another West Coast Conference contest against Portland scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m Pacific Time.
