College Tennis News - No. 19 Texas falls to Santa Clara, 4-1 in opening round of NCAA Championship

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 19 Texas picked up a singles win from freshman Lloyd Glasspool, but Santa Clara emerged with a 4-1 win over the Longhorns Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Championship. UT’s season comes to an end at 16-10.

Santa Clara (22-5) opened the match by winning a tight doubles session to assume a 1-0 lead. UT’s Alex Hilliard and Sudanwa Sitaram opened up with an 8-3 win at third doubles over the Broncos’ Maxime Armengaud and Nicolas Vinel. Santa Clara responded with a win at first doubles, where John Lamble and Ilya Osintsev defeated UT’s Chris Camillone and David Holiner, 8-6. The Broncos locked up the doubles point with a win in the deciding match at second doubles, as Kyle Dandan and Tom Pham prevailed by an 8-5 count over UT’s Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead.

Texas evened the tally at one behind Glasspool’s 6-1, 6-3 win over Eugene Muchynski at sixth singles. The Broncos reclaimed the lead at second singles, where Lamble outlasted UT’s Whitehead, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.

Santa Clara assumed a 3-1 lead when UT’s Sitaram retired in the third set of his match at third singles due to an injury. The Broncos’ Vinel walked away with a 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (retired) victory over Sitaram. Santa Clara closed out the victory at fifth singles, where Osintsev edged UT’s Chen in a pair of tiebreak sets, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Texas’ Soren Hess-Olesen and Holiner had claimed their opening sets at their respective singles positions, Nos. 1 and 4 singles, but their matches were suspended when Santa Clara clinched the team victory by picking up the fourth point at fifth singles.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS

Texas head coach Michael Center

I give Santa Clara credit. They came and played a nice match, and they had a nice crowd out here to support them. We’re pretty disappointed in how we finished the season. We have a lot of work to do this summer. We feel that with everyone back and some new guys coming in that we’ll have an opportunity to be better. Losing in the first round (of the NCAA Championship)….that’s not where we want to be or expect to be, and I take full responsibility for it. I have to figure some things out, and we have to get better so this doesn’t happen again. The guys played hard, but we just didn’t play well enough at the end of the season. We have a lot of work to do.

NCAA Championship First Round (Round of 64)

Taube Family Tennis Center – Stanford, Calif.

No. 39 Santa Clara 4, No. 19 Texas 1
DOUBLES - Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

1) John Lamble/Ilya Osintsev (SCU) d. No. 36 Chris Camillone/David Holiner (TEXAS) 8-6
2) Kyle Dandan/Tom Pham (SCU) d. No. 78 Chen/Whitehead (TEXAS) 8-5
3) Alex Hilliard/Sudanwa Sitaram (TEXAS) d. Maxime Armengaud/Nicolas Vinel (SCU) 8-3

SINGLES - Order of Finish: 6, 2, 3, 5

1) No. 73 Soren Hess-Olesen (TEXAS) vs. No. 91 Kyle Dandan (SCU) – 6-2, 4-6, 3-2, susp.
2) No. 123 John Lamble (SCU) d. No. 102 Daniel Whitehead (TEXAS) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0
3) Nicolas Vinel (SCU) d. Sudanwa Sitaram (TEXAS) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0, ret.
4) David Holiner (TEXAS) vs. Tom Pham (SCU) – 7-5, 6-5, susp.
5) Ilya Osintsev (SCU) d. Ben Chen (TEXAS) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
6) Lloyd Glasspool (TEXAS) d. Eugene Muchynski (SCU) 6-1, 6-3