SAN DIEGO – In the opening round of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday, the fifth-seed Santa Clara men's tennis team blanked fourth-seed LMU 4-0 at the Aztec Tennis Center on the campus of San Diego State University.  The Broncos will next face No.1-seed San Diego on Friday in the semifinals. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Christian Lerby won both his doubles and singles matches including the match clincher to help Santa Clara (18-6) cruise past LMU (11-11). 
• The Broncos won the first two doubles matches to take the point to go up 1-0 and put together three-straight singles wins to shutout the Lions, who they lost to in the regular season.
• In doubles, Lerby teamed up with Luca Lemaitre to beat Yassine Smiej and Toky Ranaivo 6-3 followed by Lukas Maskow and Tiago Boschmans' win over Darius Tamaddon and Sascha Nothdurft 7-5 to put the Broncos up 1-0.
• Santa Clara continued its momentum into singles play when Guillaume Dalmasso handled Sebastian Nothhaft 6-1, 6-2 at line two to take a 2-0 lead on the team scoreboard.
• Sebastian Buxman made it 3-0 with his victory at line three against Toky Ranaivo 6-3, 6-0.
• Lerby, ranked No. 111 nationally, closed out the match beating Yassine Smiej 6-2, 6-2 atop the lineup. 
• LMU (11-11) finished their season without their All-WCC first team singles player Arthur Pantino in the lineup. 

Moving on!!@SCUBroncos #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/nUqLIOsHsD

— Santa Clara Men's Tennis (@SCUMTennis) April 25, 2024

• Santa Clara face top-seed San Diego on Friday in the WCC Tournament semifinals.  First serve is at 10 a.m.  Check out the WCC Tournament Central for details.