Santa Clara men’s tennis was defeated by Auburn 4-3 in the opening round of the NCAA Team Championships on May 1 at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. The Broncos mounted a comeback after falling behind early but were ultimately edged out by their opponents.
The match began with Santa Clara losing the doubles point and dropping the first two singles matches, putting them at a 3-0 deficit. Singles wins from Lukas Maskow and Luca Lemaitre narrowed Auburn’s lead to 3-2. Valentin Faure then saved several match points before winning his singles match against Alan Bojarski, tying the overall score at three.
However, Manel Lazaro clinched victory for Auburn with a win over Ferran Redza on court six, finishing with scores of 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Faure had staged a dramatic third-set comeback against Bojarski and secured his victory through a tiebreaker.
Maskow contributed to Santa Clara’s rally with a straight set win over Freddy Blaydes on court four (6-2, 7-5), while Lemaitre notched his tenth consecutive victory by defeating No. 78 Billy Blaydes (6-4, 6-4) on court two. In doubles play, Nicholas Heng and Joey Phillips came back from behind to secure the deciding match for Auburn.
This marks Santa Clara’s second appearance in the NCAA Team Championships as they close out their season with an overall record of 20 wins and five losses.
