PORTLAND, Ore. – No. 55 Santa Clara men's tennis defeated Portland 5-2 in a crucial West Coast Conference match on Friday putting them a step closer to clinching one of six spots in the WCC Tournament.  The Broncos can finish in the top six with a win on Sunday against Gonzaga. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Santa Clara (16-6, 3-4 WCC) and Portland (9-9, 3-5 WCC) played on the three courts inside the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center starting with doubles, followed by three singles matches from the top half of the lineup and concluded with three singles matches from the bottom half of the lineup.
• The Broncos won the first four singles matches after dropping the doubles point to claim the team victory. 
• The match clincher came on court five when Nikola Keremedchiev was forced to retire in the first set against Lukas Maskow on court five. 
• Guillaume Dalmasso and Sebastian Buxman both won their doubles match as well as singles matches. 
• Trailing 1-0, Santa Clara evened the match on court three when Buxman defeated Luka Vukovic 6-3, 6-4.
• No. 118 Christian Lerby put the Broncos up 2-1 with his victory over Oscar Brown 6-3, 6-4 on court one.
• On court two, Dalmasso needed three sets to down Nicolas Ocana 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 for the Broncos third-straight singles win. 
• As the second set of singles play began for the fourth through sixth spots in the lineup, the match was quickly decided when Keremedchiev retired in the first set, up 3-1, giving the Broncos the team victory. 
• The final two matches were played out on courts four and six where the two schools split them.

• Santa Clara will travel to Spokane, Washington to close out the regular season against Gonzaga on Sunday.  First serve is at 10 a.m. PT.