Amazing Santa Clara Tennis Turnaround

Did anyone see the turnaround that Santa Clara made this year? How did this happen so quickly? I got to see the team play against Stanford and could not believe the turnaround. After the match I checked the website and saw they won a total of 4 matches the year before. Looks like we now have 3 strong programs here in Nor Cal, it's great to see.

Yeah, both Men's and Women's are significantly improved and good recruits are on the way. "Let's go, Broncos!"

Roy,

I was talking about the men's team but both are getting better. Just saw the season recap on the website. Seems like the men broke a whole bunch of records this year. I look forward to watching the progress the next couple of years.

good to see the broncos doing well.. finishing at 43 is pretty impressive

it happened because the coach has recruited well over the last two years and brought in a really good assistant coach. Derek Mills, the men's coach, has delivered several solid classes in a row as well as some good transfers. this year Brian Brogan returned to finish his career at SCU where he spent his first two years before playing his junior year at Pepperdine. Soph Andrew Kells transferred from USC where he was a starter in the doubles lineup for the national champs last year. Soph Nico Vinel transferred in from Virginia Commonwealth where he was freshman of the year in their conference last year. Then add in the incoming freshman and you have the foundations of a solid program. Why do you think Stanford turned around so quickly from a few mediocore seasons? You don't have to be a great tennis coach to be a good college coach. You have to recruit well, and bring in a good assistant coach.

The reason the broncos struggled the last few years happened because of some injuries, some off court problems with players, as well as some players quitting because of the new coach after the popular George Husack took the assistant coach position at Illinois. They ended up having a patchwork team and the guys who were filling the last two spots just were not D-1 talent. So pretty much every match the team was down 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the doubles.

http://www.santaclarabroncos.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/060110aaa.html

June 1, 2010

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's tennis team capped a successful season by finishing with a national rank of No. 54 on the final 2010 Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, released on May 31, 2010.

In addition, tennisrecruiting.net also designated Santa Clara as having the country's 18th-best 2010 recruiting class in the outlet's Spring 2010 rankings, released on May 24, 2010.

This is the highest end-of-season ITA national ranking in Santa Clara tennis history and the team's second consecutive top-25 ranked recruiting class.

The Broncos finished the season with an 18-7 dual season record, going 5-2 in West Coast Conference contests. SCU was runner-up at the WCC Conference Championships in April after facing 20-time conference champion Pepperdine. The team earned its highest ranking in March at No. 43, the highest ranking ever in program history.

This fall, fourth-year head coach Derek Mills and the Broncos will welcome blue chip recruit and Bay Area local John Lamble and four-star recruit Keith Kamono of Japan to his talented core of players.

Santa Clara University Men at No. 29, Women at No. 51

From santaclarabroncos.com:

Men

Santa Clara (10-3) enters the weekend after decisively beating both UC Irvine and UCSB 7-0 during a weekend trip to Southern California.

During its last three matches, Santa Clara has not dropped a dual match point as the Broncos have downed three straight opponents 7-0.

The Broncos continue to battle against some of the NCAA's best programs. The Broncos have played six ranked opponents this season and have won three out of five of those matches, falling only to then-No. 6 Stanford and then-No. 33 Fresno State. The Broncos have picked up marquee wins over ranked teams such as Boise State, TCU and UNLV.

Senior Kyle Dandan is ranked No. 106 in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in its latest rankings released on Wed., Feb. 28. The ITA ranks the top 125 individuals in the country. Dandan's ranking is a season-high for a Bronco player. Playing as the Broncos' primary No. 1 singles player, Dandan has consistently faced opponents' top players. A native of the Philippines, Dandan has played four opponents in the top-50, while being able to edge then-No. 31, now No. 29, Ryan Thatcher of Stanford.

Women

After a 6-1 win over University of San Francisco on Friday, the No. 51 Santa Clara women's tennis team lost a tight match at Fresno State on Sunday by a score of 4-3. The women now look forward to Sun., Mar. 11 when they travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif. to play at Cal Poly at 11:00 a.m.

At Fresno State, the double matches proved to be the deciding factor in the 4-3 win for the Bulldogs. The Fresno Bulldogs edged out all three Bronco duos. But the women put up a strong fight in the single matches with the Broncos winning three singles matches and the Bulldogs winning three as well.

In the No. 1 singles position, sophomore Katie Le defeated No. 42 Marianne Jodoin in two sets. Le who is currently ranked No. 48 by the ITA, topped Jodoin 6-4, 7-5.

up to 29, pretty good

It's great to see 3 teams for NorCal in the top 30, Santa Clara is better than people think. The loss against Arkansas was a bad one but they had 2 starters out. Great job Broncos

Roy Hobbs said:

From santaclarabroncos.com:

The Broncos have played six ranked opponents this season and have won three out of five of those matches,

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What happened in the sixth? This statement does not compute.

They have really fallen off this year. The bottom of their line-up was blasted by the San Diego backups

Clemson_tennis said:

They have really fallen off this year. The bottom of their line-up was blasted by the San Diego backups

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Indeed. They are practically defaulting 5 and 6 every match along with 3 dubs

Clemson_tennis said:

They have really fallen off this year. The bottom of their line-up was blasted by the San Diego backups

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Santa Clara is very bad this year, I have heard that a couple guys bailed last minute that were supposed to come in January. I haven't seen them play this year but heard they had to add 3 lower level high school players just to fill out the roster this year.
The positive thing for them is they have a very strong team coming next year and 2 of their top players back. I have heard they should be pretty strong again next year. Based off their scores this past weekend they might not win a match again this year.

Something weird must have happened. My son contacted the coach last summer and they would not even talk with him about a position on the team. My son ended up in the WCC and is 10-3 in dual matches. Go figure

justinmadison said:

Something weird must have happened. My son contacted the coach last summer and they would not even talk with him about a position on the team. My son ended up in the WCC and is 10-3 in dual matches. Go figure

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Sometimes timing is everything. Figure he's at a better place now anyways.

andfor said:

Sometimes timing is everything. Figure he's at a better place now anyways.

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True. It definitely worked out for the best.