April 22, 2010

It was a great year for sophomore captain Kacie Wagner and the women's tennis team, who just finished their regular season with a 14-7 record on the season and a 4-2 record in the WCC. After such an impressive season, the Broncos will compete in the WCC tournament as the No. 4 seed in San Diego, Calif. from Apr. 23-25. Good luck Broncos!

SantaClaraBroncos.com: After compiling such a great regular season record, how are you and the rest of the team feeling about being the upcoming WCC tournament?

Kacie Wagner: We're all really excited for the WCC tournament. We want to keep playing our level, and we're confident that we'll be able to compete with the level of confidence that we've built up during the season.

SCB.com: As the No. 4 seed in the tournament, you will play the No. 5 seed, San Francisco who you recently defeated on Apr. 18. How do you feel about meeting your rival so soon in the WCC tournament?

KW: Beating USF at the end of the regular season was a perfect way to end it because they have always been our rival. That win was a great example of what our season has been all about; we've gained a lot of perspective and experience from both winning and losing matches this year and it was great to get one last win against our rivals. USF was a really close match last week, but with the amount of confidence that we have it should give us the necessary momentum to prevail over them.

SCB.com: Your team also had the experience to play the No. 12 team in the nation, Stanford, on Apr.15 in Palo Alto. How was that experience for you and the rest of the team?

KW: That was an amazing experience, and I thought we all played pretty well for playing against one of the top teams in the nation. They have such a rich legacy, but it was great to go out there and show them that we could compete against them. After all of our hard work this year, it was great to be on those courts and feel like we deserved to be there.

SCB.com: Are there any there any other tennis programs that you look up to?

KW: Even though they're in our same conference and we play against them, Saint Mary's is definitely a program that we would like to aspire to be. They've shown how much the WCC can do; that even though we are all small schools, our conference can still be very successful on the collegiate tennis scene.

SCB.com: In addition to your duties as team captain, you've also earned an impressive GPA as a Political Science major. How have you been able to balance your studies and tennis at the same time?

KW: I've grown up learning how to manage everything since I've always been traveling around to tennis tournaments while being in school so it wasn't a big adjustment when I came to Santa Clara. I also really enjoy my classes, my favorite class this quarter is The Constitution and Liberty that is taught by Richard Izquierdo.

SCB.com: What's your favorite part about being a member of the Santa Clara community, specifically as a student-athlete?

KW: The biggest thing is how supportive everyone is here. It's a very close-knit and tight community and you know that people care about you and want you to do well. One story I tell all the time is when I was here on my recruiting trip when I was in high school. I had met the athletic director, Dan Coonan, earlier that day for a little bit, and then later in the day I ended up getting lost on campus. And then all of a sudden, there's Dan coming up to me and asking me, "Hi Kacie, do you need help?" I remember thinking, `Wow, I can't believe that the head of the athletic department remembered who I was and I'm only a recruit.' That's when I realized how close the community is and it made me want to be a part of that community. I'm so happy to be here at Santa Clara.