WACO, Texas – A furious comeback attempt by Santa Clara men's tennis fell short in the opening round of the NCAA Team Championships, getting edged 4-3 to Auburn on Friday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor University.  After dropping the doubles point and the first two singles matches to fall behind 3-0, the Broncos mounted a comeback with singles wins from Lukas Maskow and Luca Lemaitre to trim the lead to 3-2.  They leveled the match at 3-all on Valentin Faure's victory over Alan Bojarski after he saved several match points in the third set.  However, Manel Lazaro clinched the match shortly after to send Auburn to the second round.    

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• Lazaro secured the team win for the No. 22-ranked Auburn (17-10) squad when he defeated Ferran Redza 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on court six. 
• Shortly before the clincher, Faure battled in a tightly contested match against Bojarski on singles six.  In the third set, Faure saved several match points at 2-5, 3-5 and 4-5 to get it to 5-all before eventually winning in a tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).  
• Faure's victory came off the heels of back-to-back wins from Lukas Maskow and Luca Lemaitre.  
• Maskow started the Santa Clara (20-5) comeback with his straight set win over Freddy Blaydes 6-2, 7-5 on court four.  Lemaitre followed suit with a win on court two past No. 78 Billy Blaydes 6-4, 6-4 for his 10th straight victory.  
• Auburn got off to a strong start.  In the deciding match for the doubles point, Tiago Boschmans and Lemaitre were up 5-4 and ahead 30-0 but could not close the deal as Nicholas Heng and Joey Phillips came back to level things at 5-all and took the match 7-5 to give Auburn a 1-0 advantage.    
• Heng continued the momentum with his singles play, beating John Kim 6-1, 6-4 to push the lead out to 2-0.  They made it 3-0 with a win atop the singles lineup as No. 22 Hamza Nasridinov defeated Alexander Watanabe Eriksson 6-3, 6-3.  
• The Broncos closed out the 2025-26 season in their second ever appearance in the NCAA Team Championships. 

RESULTS:

#22 Auburn 4, #36 Santa Clara 3
5/1/2026 at Waco, Texas (Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. #22 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) def. Alexander W Eriksson (SCUMTEN) 6-3, 6-3
2. Luca Lemaitre (SCUMTEN) def. #78 Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4, 6-4
3. Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. John Kim (SCUMTEN) 6-1, 6-4
4. Lukas Maskow (SCUMTEN) def. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) 6-2, 7-5
5. Valentin Faure (SCUMTEN) def. Alan Bojarski (AUB) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Manel Lazaro (AUB) def. Ferran Redza (SCUMTEN) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. #11 Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. #74 Luca Bluett/John Kim (SCUMTEN) 6-2
2. Nicholas Heng/Joey Phillips (AUB) def. Tiago Boschmans/Luca Lemaitre (SCUMTEN) 7-5
3. Valentin Faure/Ferran Redza (SCUMTEN) def. Jake Kennedy/Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-3

Match Notes
Santa Clara 20-5; National ranking #36
Auburn 17-10; National ranking #22
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,1,4,2,5,6)

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