April 22, 2005

MALIBU, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's tennis team opened the West Coast Conference Championship with a 4-1 win over Loyola Marymount at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu. The Broncos' record improves to 13-10.

Santa Clara clinched the doubles point saving two match points on the second court to tie the set at 8-8 and force the tiebreak.

Early into singles, rain delayed action for about an hour. Upon returning to play, the Broncos opened a 3-0 match lead with Bobby Rasmussen and A.J. Kerin's victories on courts five and six. LMU grabbed its first point at No. 2 singles, but it didn't matter, as senior Francisco Zepponi broke his opponent at 4-3 in the third to serve out the match and clinched the Bronco team victory. He earned a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Linas Cicenas. The final two matches in progress were suspended.

Santa Clara remains in action and will take on top-seed and host Pepperdine on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live scoring is available on wccsports.com.

Doubles
1. Wojnarowicz/Phillips (LMU) def. Kochanski/ Blane Shields (SCU) 8-6
2. Bedilion/Zepponi (SCU) def. Berglund/Malet (LMU) 9-8 (3)
3. Macek/Rasmussen (SCU) def. Terrien/Cicenas (LMU) 8-6

Singles
1. Taylor Bedilion (SCU) vs. Mike Wojnarwicz (LMU) 6-4, 6-7, 1-2 DNF
2. Nico Terrien (LMU) def. Jan Macek (SCU) 6-1, 1-6, 7-6
3. Eric Kochanski (SCU) vs. Beau Berglund (LMU) 6-4, 2-6, 4-1, DNF
4. Francisco Zepponi (SCU) def. Linas Cicenas (LMU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Bobby Rasmussen (SCU) def. Matt Phillips (LMU) 6-2, 6-2
6. A.J. Kerin (SCU) def. Carlos Malet (LMU) 6-0, 7-5