April 29, 2009

SANTA CLARA, Calif.- For the Bronco women's tennis team, the 2008-09 season was a roller coaster ride of terrific accomplishments and a few disappointments. The Broncos finished the regular season with a 8-10 record; and 2-3 in the WCC. In the WCC Tournament, the Broncos were the sixth seed and finished in seventh place.

Reflecting on this past season, Bronco head coach Ben Cabell is happy about the team's performance this year. "We had a very good season overall, it was definitely an improvement over last year. We were disappointed with how the conference tournament turned out but overall we showed a lot of improvement."

After competing in several tournaments in the fall, the Broncos opened the 2009 season with a win against UC Santa Cruz, 7-0, on January 17th. The Broncos went back and forth between the win and loss columns until they finally hit their stride with a five-game winning streak that was eventually ended by UTEP, 5-2. During that winning streak, the Broncos defeated Northern Arizona, San Jose State, Portland, Cal State Bakersfield, and Northern Colorado.

The Broncos achieved one of their main goals after their win against Cal State Bakersfield, 7-0, that put the Broncos at a .500 record for the first time during the season.

"We beat a bunch of teams that we had previously lost to, so I believe that we have a lot to work with next season," said Cabell. "One of our goals was to have a .500 record and we achieved that during the season, which felt great."

By the time that the WCC Tournament rolled around, the Broncos were ready to prove themselves, entering the tournament with the sixth seed. However, the tournament proved to be a different story for the Broncos. In the first round, Santa Clara fell to Saint Mary's, 4-0. In the second round of play, the Broncos fell to Portland, 4-3. The team rebounded with a final win against Gonzaga, 4-1, to earn seventh place in the WCC.

Despite the lower finish in the WCC than the team expected, the Broncos remain optimistic about next year, especially after announcing the incoming class of 2013. The Broncos will welcome Alexandra Zaniewski, Kelly Lamble, and Maggie McGeorge to the team next fall.

With the departure of seniors Myra Davoudi and Stephanie Galainena, the young team will have to mature quickly to build on this year's successes. "Next year we will have a very young team and there will be a lot of new changes to the line-up. After this year, I believe that we're definitely going in the right direction," said Cabell.