Saturday Victory Helps Men’s Tennis Clinch Second in the WCC

Santa Clara University men’s tennis ended their regular season just as they started—with an ace on the maroon and white courts at Degheri Tennis Center. Six players contributed to the 4-1 victory over Gonzaga University on Saturday afternoon, clinching second place in the West Coast Conference. 

Nine matches were played on the Broncos’ home courts, with two resulting in an “unfinished.” This means that the match ended due to injury, time or a team winning enough points to clinch the match. 

The day started off on court one with early wins from Luca Bluett ’28 and John Kim ’26 in doubles play. They took down Gonzaga’s Kai-Luca Ampaw and Giovanni Branchetti 6-2. This set up Bronco doubles wins leader Tiago Boschmans ’27 and his partner Lukas Maskow ’26 to secure the doubles point for the Broncos. 

That's just what they did—beating Jay Fairclough and Nicholas Reeves 6-4 on court two. The momentum on the court shifted strongly towards the Broncos, leading to an almost flawless day on the singles side. 
On the same court, Maskow cruised past Nicholas Reeves in two straight 6-2 sets. Alexander Watanabe Eriksson ’26 followed with a commanding showing at court one, defeating Giovanni Branchetti 6-1, 6-3. These wins extended the Bronco lead to 3-0 for the day. 

The Bulldogs got their lone point on court six, where they held off the sweep. Oscar Rashed ’27 beat Valentin Faure ’28 6-4, 6-2 to make it 3-1 in favor of the Broncos, but that’s as close the Bulldogs were able to get.

Kim added to his team-leading 10 singles wins as he delivered the match-clinching point on court four, beating Tom Dunlop 6-4, 6-4. Kim and Maskow each finished the day undefeated with wins in both their singles and doubles matchups. 

With the University of the Pacific and Pepperdine also finishing the season with 5-2 records, the Broncos finish in a three-way tie for second place heading into the WCC Tournament. They received the third seed in the tournament, with Pepperdine taking No. 2 and Pacific No. 4. This marks the seventh straight season the Broncos have qualified for the WCC Tournament. The Broncos, ranked 70th nationally, have won their last three matches, gaining momentum heading into their first-round matchup against no. 6 Saint Mary’s at San Diego State University’s Aztec Tennis Center.