Women's Tennis Travels to UC Davis; No. 26 Katie Le Makes Preseason All-Conference Team

Katie Le

Posted: Jan 31, 2013

Santa Clara, Calif.—This week the Santa Clara women's tennis team has been preparing for its upcoming away match against UC Davis on Sun., Feb. 3 at 11:00 a.m. in Davis, Calif. In addition, the results of the 2013 WCC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll and the 2013 WCC Women's Tennis Preseason All-Conference Team were announced Wednesday by the West Coast Conference.

In the 2013 WCC Preseason Poll, Santa Clara (1-0) is ranked fourth out of nine teams in the conference, tallying a total of 40 points. The three teams above the Broncos are all nationally ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association—No. 33 Pepperdine, No. 40 Saint Mary's, and No. 49 San Diego.

Santa Clara is off to a strong start performing strong at the Cal Winter Invite and sweeping US Santa Cruz at home last weekend 7-0. They continue to improve each match in preparation for league competition.

"Being in the top four is what we expected. The team set one of our goals at the beginning of the season to beat one of those three teams above us. Each one of them has won the WCC Championship once in the past three years and now we feel that it is our turn to win," said head coach Ben Cabell. "We appreciate the respect from the other teams that believe that we are in the top half the conference. We certainly feel that way, and we are excited to take down those teams in front of us."

The Bronco's No. 26 Katie Le was voted to the 2013 Preseason All-Conference Team that consists of just six players throughout the entire league. The Milpitas, Calif. native currently holds the highest singles ranking in Bronco women's tennis program history after coming off the biggest upset by a Santa Clara player at the Cal Winter Invite on Jan. 20. Le defeated No. 9 Anett Schutting of Cal by a score of 6-3, 6-1. The junior was also named as the WCC Player of the Year in 2012.

"We are very proud of what Katie has done so far throughout her career here at Santa Clara," said Cabell. "She's definitely earned this spot both from last year and her performance in the fall. This accomplishment is not only a reflection of her success but also on the whole team as well. "

Coming off of its home opener victory against UC Santa Cruz on Sat., Jan. 26, the Santa Clara women's tennis team travels to Davis, Calif. on Sunday to take on UC Davis, the Broncos' second regular season match of 2013. The Aggies (1-2) are coming off of two consecutive losses to No. 28 Arizona and No. 33 Arizona State, and they play No. 5 Stanford on Thurs., Jan. 31 at 3:00 p.m. before going back to Davis to compete against the Broncos on Sun., Feb. 3 at 11:00 a.m.

"This is our first real test of this season. Davis is always been a good team and we have constantly had close matches with them in the past four or five years. Playing at Davis is tough and so we are expecting a battle this Super Bowl Sunday," said Cabell.

2013 WEST COAST CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL

TEAM (First Place Votes) POINTS

1. Pepperdine (6) 61

2. Saint Mary's (3) 56

3. San Diego 54

4. Santa Clara 40

5. BYU 34

6. Loyola Marymount 28

7. San Francisco 26

8. Gonzaga 16

9. Portland 9

2013 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM