SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After a five-hour long match in San Luis Obispo, Calif., the No. 56 Santa Clara women's tennis team came out on top against Cal Poly, 4-3, with the decisive singles victory from sophomore Delphine Rouvillois. The Broncos improve to 2-2 this season and look ahead to a two-match road trip where they take on Boise State and No. 66 Fresno State next weekend.
"Playing at Cal Poly was difficult because their courts are a lot different than ours, and we have always struggled to beat them on their surface," said senior Katie Le after the match. "Regardless, we were able to pull out a win, and it really came down to our fitness. Delphine played a great three-set match, and we came back strong after losing the doubles point."
Cal Poly (2-4) started off strong on its home courts, taking the doubles point with wins on court two and three. Bronco duo Daniella Silva and Le tallied a victory over Mustang's Ane McPike and Jennifer Cornea by a score of 7-5 on court one.
In singles competition, Santa Clara focused on converting four out of the six matches to take the day's win. No. 28 Le had a commanding win over Cornea on court one by a score of 6-3, 6-2. Freshman Silva took the first set off of Mika Padmanabhan, 6-3, and held on strong capturing the second set, 7-6, on court three. Senior Stephanie Skaras also defeated her competitor McPike on the No. 5 singles position. Skaras finished off the match by a score of 7-6, 7-5.
With the match score tied 3-3, it came down to the finesse of Rouvillois on court four. The Grenoble, France native dropped the first set to Kathryn Webb of Cal Poly, 4-6. Rouvillois battled back to take the second, 6-3, and forced the match into a third set. The Broncos proved to be too much for Webb and took the third set, 6-4, and captured the win for Santa Clara.
The Broncos travel to Fresno, Calif. on Feb. 21 to take on Boise State and Fresno State on Feb. 22. Check back into SantaClaraBroncos.com for all your women's tennis updates and news.
No. 56 Santa Clara 4, Cal Poly 3
Doubles
1) Katie Le/Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Ane McPike/Jennifer Cornea (CP) 7-5
2) Kathryn Webb/Mika Padmanabhan (CP) def. Chelby Cook/Delphine Rouvillois (SCU) 8-7
3) Emily Gibbens/Sayaka Tsugai (CP) def. Stephanie Skaras/Nikki Wolny (SCU) 8-2
Singles
1) #28 Katie Le (SCU) def. Jennifer Cornea (CP) 6-3, 6-2
2) Emily Gibbens (CP) def. Chelby Cooke (SCU) 6-3, 6-1
3) Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Mika Padmanabhan (CP) 6-3, 7-6
4) Delphine Rouvillois (SCU) def. Kathryn Webb (CP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
5) Stephanie Skaras (SCU) def. Ane McPike (CP) 7-6, 7-5
6) Sayaka Tsugai (CP) def. Nicolette Wolny (SCU) 6-1, 6-4
GO BRONCOS!
