Men's Tennis Still Impressing

By Henry Gula, Associate Reporter

Coming off one of their best seasons in history as a team, all eyes will be on two of the team's star players: sophomore Ilya Osintsev and junior John Lamble. 

"I'm not sure what to expect, but I'll just go out and play each match and see what happens."

Lamble and Osintsev will both enter this season with national rankings in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 2012-13 preseason rankings. They are also ranked as a doubles team.

Lamble is ranked 40th in singles, while Osintsev is ranked 103rd. Together, they earned a doubles rank of 30th in the country.

Both players earned invitations to the All-American Championship Series held on Sept. 29 through Oct. 6 in Tulsa, Okla. Lamble will play singles in the tournament. 

"I'm proud, especially because it's the first time a men's tennis player has been chosen from Santa Clara," said Lamble of his invitation. 

Osintsev arrived at Santa Clara in January from Russia, having never attended school in the U.S. He partially attributes his easy transition to America to the sense of camaraderie he got from the team upon his arrival. 

Osintsev and Lamble soon teamed up in doubles, but it was not a straight path to the top.  The two had to switch sides of the court several weeks in, which both felt helped their performance. 

"Ilya felt a lot more comfortable returning on the deuce side," said Lamble. 

Sixth year head coach Derek Mills notcied this too. "We threw them together, with Ilya being a freshman and John being a sophomore and it was a work in progress. They matured as a team as the season went along," said Mills.

The whole team will practice about five days a week in the fall with an emphasis on fitness, in preparation for the ITA regional tournament at Saint Mary's, where Lamble and Osintsev will play as the first team doubles pairing. 

New this year, the team will be utilizing the services of the Fitness Never Sleeps training center in San Jose in order to help the players be "the fittest they have ever been," according to Mills. 

"It's a full body workout and will help the team a lot," commented Osintsev. 

Osintsev wanted to thank all of the fans that came out to support the Broncos last season and hopes to have an even better 2013. "It was a team effort and there was great support for the team especially at the Stanford match. It helped a lot. Everybody's ready to work hard and do even better than we did last year."

 Contact Henry Gula at hgula@scu.edu.