May 24, 2005
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The Santa Clara University women's tennis team recently completed its season, posting a 16-7 record under first-year coach Damon Coupe. A few season highlights:
Santa Clara's 16 wins marked the most for the program since the 1997 season, a span of eight years, when those Broncos went 16-12. The Broncos' win percentage for this season was .696, just shy of the program best, .700 set in 1980, when SCU went 14-6. Additionally, the Broncos have posted .500 or better season for the past six years.
Santa Clara earned the program's first-ever national ranking on February 1 with a strong start to the 2005 season. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association listed the Broncos 70th nationally in its second set of rankings this season, achieving a major milestone for the 40-year-old program. The Broncos garnered 36 votes in the poll after upsetting No. 56 Cal Poly on the road. Santa Clara remained ranked through the March 1 listing, when the team was tied for 75th.
Four Broncos represented the SCU program for the first time at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships during fall play. Seniors Janalle Kaloi and Kelly Leathers were selected to the pre-qualifying singles draw, while two tandems earned pre-qualifying doubles spot: seniors Kaloi and Catherine Cochrane and sophomores Erika Barnes and Leathers. Kaloi advanced to the third round of the pre-qualifier, held in Pacific Palisades.
Sophomore Kelly Leathers earned honorable mention All-West Coast Conference honors. The Sacramento native posted 20 wins while playing mostly at No. 2 singles, placing fifth in program recordbooks for number of wins in a single season. She also played in the top doubles spot and netted 13 victories during the dual schedule. Leathers has now tallied 39 career singles wins in her first two collegiate seasons, and is just one victory shy of reaching the program's top-10 list.
Other Broncos also made their marks on the recordbooks. Junior Jessie Strunk posted 21 wins to rank third in SCU's single season listing, and Catherine Cochrane's 17 victories in 2005 tied her for 10th. In doubles, Kelly Leathers paired with two partners to net 16 victories and is now tied with 11 others for ninth place in combined doubles wins in a season. In the career listings, Janalle Kaloi graduates as the second-winningest Bronco, having tallied 65 wins over her four-year career. She's also second in the recordbooks for combined doubles victories, with 62. Cochrane is also in the career listings, as her 54 singles wins places her sixth all-time.