MORAGA, Calif. - For the first time in two years the Saint Mary's men's tennis team will see postseason action after earning the six-seed in the WCC Tournament and will take on three-seed Santa Clara on Thursday, April 24th. The Gaels took care of business earlier in the season with wins over Gonzaga and Portland, allowing them to finish just one match above the two programs for the final spot in the conference tournament.
Despite getting swept by Santa Clara in their matchup earlier this month, Saint Mary's has gone 2-2 in their previous four meetings with all four matches being decided by just one point. In their last postseason appearance, the Gaels fell to the Broncos 4-3 with senior
Carlos Ramos Membrives as the lone member from that 2023 squad.
This year's conference tournament will be held at the Aztec Tennis Complex on the campus of San Diego State from April 24-26. Additional tournament information can be found below:
MATCH COVERAGE
MTEN | #6 Saint Mary's vs. #3 Santa Clara | Aztec Tennis Complex
San Diego, Calif. | Thursday, April 24th | 1:00 PM
Tournament Central | Live Results | Live Stream
GAELS OUTLOOK
Saint Mary's concluded conference play this past weekend with a pair of defeats to LMU and 28th ranked Pepperdine. They will enter postseason play on a four-match losing streak but recorded their two wins against Gonzaga and Portland to earn the final seed in the tournament.
Senior
Carlos Ramos Membrives leads the team with nine dual victories on the season while freshman
Finn Dyer has come on nicely down the stretch of the season, going 6-1 in his last five duals dating back to late February. Membrives earned his third career All-WCC selection earlier this week after earning Honorable Mention status as the team's lone all-conference selection.
History tells us that Thursday's match could be a competitive one as the Gaels have gone 2-2 in their last four matches with Santa Clara prior to this season with all four being decided by just one point. Saint Mary's took on Santa Clara in their previous tournament appearance back in 2023 and narrowly fell 4-3. They would respond with a 4-3 win over the Broncos last season which featured five current team members.
The Gaels will be ready for a fight Thursday afternoon as they have a chance to win their first WCC Tournament match since 2013. Santa Clara will enter the postseason event as the 70th ranked program in this week's ITA rankings and represent one of four WCC programs ranked inside the top-75 according to ITA (no. 7 San Diego, no. 25 Pepperdine, no. 56 Pacific).
ABOUT THE BRONCOS (WCC)
Santa Clara owns a 14-8 overall record this spring and a 5-2 conference record, earning the three-seed in this year's WCC Tournament. The Broncos have consistently been ranked inside ITA's top-75 but are just 2-5 this spring against ranked opponents. They did defeat 49th ranked Pacific just two weeks ago to help conclude conference play with a three-match win streak.
Santa Clara had four All-WCC selections earlier this week with three singles players named Honorable Mention and a pair named to the doubles Second Team. Luca Bluett, Alex Watanabe Eriksson and Luca Lemaitre all earned Honorable Mention for their singles play and Luca Bluett and John Kim represented the Broncos as the Second Team doubles selection.
Santa Clara has had nice postseason success with two opening round wins over the last two conference tournaments. They have yet to reach the championship match though since 2019 as they have fallen in the semi-finals in two of the last three years.
Saint Mary's will be part of the first slate of matches on Thursday, April 24th as the semi-final matchups will be decided by the end of the day. Live scoring, live stream and additional media links can be found at wccsports.com on the Tournament Central page.
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