SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Five members of the West Coast Conference co-Champion Santa Clara men's tennis team – Luca Bluett, Valentin Faure, John Kim, Luca Lemaitre and Alexander Watanabe Eriksson - received All-League honors and head coach Niall Angus was named WCC Coach of the Year on Tuesday. 
 
Angus, who became the winningest coach in program history last month, led the Broncos to a share of their first ever WCC regular season championship, finishing the regular season with a 19-3 overall record and 6-1 in conference play to tie Pepperdine and San Diego atop the league standings.
 
The 19 win total this year is tied for the most during Angus' 10 seasons at the helm, matching the 2023-24 season total.  It included a 13-match win streak, the longest since at least the 2001-02 season.  They will look to get their 20^th win, a mark they have not reached since the 2011-12 season, at the upcoming WCC Tournament. 
 
This week, they are ranked for the 10^th straight week at No. 35, the highest ranking the program has achieved this season and since 2013 when they were also No. 35.
 
Bluett and Kim were named doubles first team.  Kim also made singles second team.  Watanabe Eriksson and Lemaitre earned singles first team honors while Faure was singles honorable mention. 
 
The all-conference voting and major awards were voted on by the eight conference head coaches. 
 
Bluett and Kim finished the spring season with an 8-7 record playing atop the lineup and are currently ranked as the No. 63 doubles team in the nation.  They have been ranked in the last eight rankings reaching a season-high of No. 17 on Feb. 4. 
 
The Bronco tandem defeated two doubles teams ranked in the top-12 this spring - beating No. 2 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez from Mississippi State and downing No.12 Jacob Olar and Andrii Zimnokh from Alabama at the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament and was named WCC Doubles Team of the Week on Jan. 27.
 
Last fall, Bluett and Kim became the first-ever Santa Clara men's tennis players to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships. They qualified for the NCAAs by winning three straight matches at the ITA Sectional Championships.
 
This is the second all-conference recognition for the Broncos' top doubles team as they were named second team last season. 
 
Watanabe Eriksson, a two-time team captain, had an 8-7 dual match record in singles, playing mostly on court one.  Seventeen of his 22 starts came at court one where he posted a 6-6 record.  In WCC action, he was 2-1. 
 
Lemaitre played five matches on court one and 17 matches on court two, compiling a 10-6 dual match record.  He was undefeated in league play at 4-0 including the match clincher over San Diego's Stian Klaassen to secure the Broncos' WCC co-championship.  It was his eighth consecutive win on the season. 
 
Both Watanabe Eriksson and Lemaitre were singles honorable mentions last season.   
 
Kim played all of his singles matches on court three where he went 13-3 in dual matches and 5-1 in conference contests.  He had a 10-match win streak and won 12 of the last 13 matches he finished.  One of his wins during the streak was a 3-all clincher against Washington's Rohan Belday.  Against Cal Poly, Kim clinched the match to give Angus his 131^st career victory to become the winningest coach in program history.  He defeated San Diego's No. 80 ranked Manvydas Balciunas to put the Broncos up 3-2 in the match that was clinched by Lemaitre.  This is the Sunnyvale, California native's first all-league recognition in singles. 
 
Faure led the team with 15 singles wins this spring and six WCC victories, all coming on court five.  He won 11 of the last 12 finished matches including a nine straight at one point. 
 
The Broncos next plays Saint Mary's in the opening round of the WCC Tournament on Thursday at noon PT. 

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