Women's Tennis Knocks-off Billikens 5-2

March 13, 2002

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's tennis team battled windy conditions and a hard-nosed Billiken squad to take a 5-2 victory over Saint Louis University today at the Santa Clara Tennis Center.

The Broncos improve to 9-6 on the season, while Saint Louis drops to 5-6. Santa Clara returns to action on March 27 in a West Coast Conference match at San Francisco. Saint Louis travels to face the Lady Dons of San Francisco Thursday morning before returning home.

"The conditions were tough today, but I was pleased with the way our players battled," said head coach Aby Ryan. "We started out slow in losing the doubles point, but we rebounded strong and lost just seven first-set games in singles. I thought our ability to come back and sweep the singles was really impressive."

The Broncos opened the match by losing the doubles point, dropping the number one and number three matches in tough, windy conditions. The lone Bronco win was an 8-5 victory by the duo of Janalle Kaloi and Mariko Kawakami. The team was named the WCC doubles team for the month of February after going 3-2 during the month. Kaloi was also named the league singles player of the month with a 6-1 record.

The Broncos rebounded the doubles loss by sweeping the singles matches. Sixth-seeded Pati Ruiz took an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win over Saint Louis' Rebecca Steer. Nicole McCord also posted a strong outing with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over SLU's Amy O'Handley.

Santa Clara 6, Saint Louis 1

SINGLES
1. Christine Limbers (SCU) def. Vicki Zielinski (SLU), 6-0, 7-6 (2)
2. Julie Siemers (SLU) def. Janalle Kaloi (SCU) , 6-2, 7-5
3. Nicole McCord (SCU) def. Amy O'Handley (SLU), 6-1, 6-2
4. Mariko Kawakami (SCU) def. Melissa Cutler (SLU), 6-2, 6-1
5. Ashley Campbell (SCU) def. Kristen Doyle (SLU), 6-2, 6-3
6. Pati Ruiz (SCU) def. Rebecca Steer (SLU), 6-0, 6-0

DOUBLES
1. Siemers / O'Handley (SLU) def. Limbers / McCord (SCU), 9-7
2. Kaloi / Kawakami (SCU) def. Cutler / Zielinski (SLU), 8-5
3. Doyle / Steer (SLU) def. Ruiz / Jenny Siegel (SCU), 8-5

TEAM RECORDS
Santa Clara 9-6, Saint Louis 5-6