SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Hosting Portland in its regular season finale on Sunday afternoon, the Santa Clara men's tennis team overcame a ranked Pilot squad in an emotional match to secure a tightly-contested 4-3 victory.

"I'm really happy for the team," said Bronco head coach Derek Mills. "We came out well and every single guy fought relentlessly in their matches. It's tough to beat a ranked team, but we came out strong and we were able to get the job done. I know that the coaching staff for Portland does a really great job with assembling and coaching their doubles team. I tip my hat off to them and the amount of effort they put forth. We played a great college match today."

Santa Clara secured the doubles point and two out of the first three singles matches but Portland rallied to square the score at 3-3, pushing the match decider to Court 4. Fighting back-and-forth over the course of three lengthy sets, Mikheil Khmiadashvili bested Mathieu Garcia in a third set tiebreak by a score of 10-8 to seal the upset.

"I was happy for (Khmiadashvili)," said Mills. "He has been struggling in the last few matches. Getting this win should help his confidence, as well as everyone else's, heading into the conference championships."

The Broncos close out the regular season with a record of 9-12 overall and 3-6 in West Coast Conference action. Santa Clara has won three consecutive matches and will look to keep that momentum rolling when they travel south to San Diego this upcoming week for the conference championships.

Serving up doubles play, the No. 3 pairings for Portland and Santa Clara were knotted at 1-1 but the twin duo of Mathieu and Pierre Garcia from Portland put Max Heerinckx and Michael Standifer away by a score of 6-1 to go ahead early.

Down from the start, the senior pairing of Ilya Osintsev and Sam Bertram, playing for the final time at the Degheri Tennis Center, put forth a dominating performance against Portland's No. 1 duo of Steffen Dierauf and Michail Pervolarakis. Serving up a number of aces, the Bronco tandem jumped out 2-1, broke serve to lead 3-1 and built a three-point advantage after firing serves past the Pilots. Dierauf and Pervolarakis chipped away briefly but the Santa Clara senior duo slammed the door, coming away with a 6-3 victory.

"I'm very excited for Sam and Ilya," said Mills. "For them to go out victorious in their final match at the Degheri Tennis Center is awesome. They definitely deserve to go out victorious for all of the hard work that they have put in over the years."

With the doubles decision pushed to Court 2, Ashot Khacharyan and Mikheil Khmiadashvili found themselves in a clash with Reid deLaubenfeis and Kent Andreasen. Splitting the first several points, the match eventually came to a tie at 5-5. Forced to deal with the pressure, the Santa Clara duo fought off a lengthy rally for the final point and came away with the 7-5 decision.

After dropping its first singles match on Court 5, Santa Clara responded courtesy of its top two singles competitors. Khacharyan went ahead early in the first set and cruised to a 6-2 victory. In set number two, the junior kept pressing in the offensive phase of the game and wore down his opponent en route to a 6-1 finish.

Osintsev gave the Broncos their third point of the day with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Steffen Dierauf. Dialed in and working his serve, the senior jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Osintsev continued to dominate later on and capitalized on his opponent's service return errors to grab the first set. Dierauf clamped down in set number two but Osintsev withstood the surge to come away victorious in straight sets.

However, two consecutive Portland victories on Courts 3 and 6 turned Santa Clara's 3-1 lead into a tied match at 3-3.

With all eyes turning to Court 4, Khmiadashvili and Mathieu Garcia found themselves in a back-and-forth contest. In the first set, Garcia gained an early 2-0 lead but the Santa Clara sophomore broke his serve, started to build some rhythm and came away with the 7-5 victory. With neither competitor gaining more than a one-point advantage in set number two, Khmiadashvili eventually found himself down 6-5 and in control of the serve. However, Garcia broke serve and won 7-5. In a match deciding third and final set, the two competitors continued to go at each other with neither of the two backing down. Once again, neither Khmiadashvili nor Garcia would seize more than a one-point lead, pushing the match into a third set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Khmiadashvili jumped out early by a score of 3-0 but Garcia rallied to tie the score at 3-3. Playing for two plus hours, both competitors traded points until Khmiadashvili went ahead 9-8 and sealed the victory on the very next point.

Santa Clara University vs. the University of Portland

Doubles | Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles | Order of Finish: 5, 2, 1, 3, 6, 4*