March 2, 2008

Results

Santa Clara, CA - The Saint Mary's men's tennis team was victorious over the Santa Clara Broncos Sunday afternoon, winning the dual match 6-1. The Gaels displayed their depth against the Broncos, as senior Joel Kusnierz did not participate in the match. Freshman Lucas Tirelli stepped into Kusnierz's shoes beautifully, playing at the No. 1 position and defeating his opponent, Jay Wong, 4-6, 7-3 (13-11), (12-10).

The Gaels opened play by capturing the doubles point, earning the win at both the No. 2 and 3 positions. Achim Christner and Marek Dvorak teamed up to defeat Santa Clara's Senthil Chidambaram and Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong, 8-6, while the freshman duo of Tirelli and Youssef El Bouzkouri, took down Justin Wong and John Iwanski, 8-3.

Tirelli's singles match was the only competition that extended to three sets, as Dvorak, Zannoni, El Bouzkouri and Ellison all defeated their opponents in two tries. El Bouzkouri made easy work of Iwanski, 6-1, 6-1, while fellow freshman, Ellison, defeated Justin Wong, 6-2, 6-2. At the two position Dvorak posted a 6-2, 6-3, win over Steven Benvenuto, while Andrea Zannoni tabbed a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Chidambaram.

The Gaels improve to 8-3 with the win over the Broncos, and return to action at home against Sacramento State on March 8 at 12:00 p.m.