SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With a 4-3 win over Cal Poly in a five-hour match last weekend, the No. 63 Santa Clara women's tennis team embarks on its second road trip of the spring season. They travel to Fresno, Calif. where they face Fresno State on Fri., Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. and Boise State on Sat., Feb. 22 at 11 a.m.
"We are going in to these two tough matches with a lot of confidence against two very good teams," said Bronco head coach Ben Cabell. "We know we can win based on how we have been performing this year. The players know that these matches will come down to a couple points here and there and ultimately be decided on their fitness. In addition, I think we are going to go into our first WCC match with some good matches under our belt. We will be prepared and match-tough."
The Broncos (2-2) are playing their fifth match of the 2014 dual season and have yet to compete on their home courts. The match against Boise State will be their first match on a neutral surface.
In its most recent match, Santa Clara took on Cal Poly where the Broncos won four out of the six matches to take the day's win after failing to capture the doubles point. No. 28 Katie Le had a commanding win over Jennifer Cornea on court one by a score of 6-3, 6-2. Freshman Daniella 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 Ane McPike on the No. 5 singles position 7-6, 7-5.
With the match score tied 3-3, it came down to the finesse of Delphine 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.
Boise State
Boise State has an overall record of 4-2 for the year after coming off of a 5-2 loss to No. 55 Utah. The Broncos saw their four-match win streak end against BYU last Saturday where they fell 4-3 to the Cougars. Boise State is 2-0 away from Boise State this year with wins at Colorado (4-3) and Northern Colorado (7-0).
Senior Sandy Vo is undefeated (5-0) playing at the No. 1 position and 10-3 overall in singles play this year. Vo and Morgan Basil are 3-0 at the ones during duals, 8-1 this year as a team. The senior duo is 44-16 all-time as a doubles team during their Boise State careers dating back to their sophomore season.
Boise State has now concluded its four-match homestand and travel to Fresno, Calif. to take on Santa Clara and Fresno State.
Fresno State Bulldogs
The Bulldogs post a 2-6 overall record after beginning the season with nine dual road matches. Fresno State will then hit the courts two days later to face Boise State for their first Mountain West match of the year at 10 a.m.
Sophomore Sophie Watts earned a singles ITA ranking of No. 41, moving up 63 spots from her original ranking of No. 104. While Aishwarya Agrawal and Claire Yang dropped their national doubles ranking, they have maintained a regional doubles ranking of No. 7. Watts was also ranked at No. 15 in the ITA Northwest Region rankings.
Last Year Versus the Bulldogs
Last year against then-No. 56 Fresno State, Santa Clara fell in a nailbitter 4-3 loss at the Degheri Tennis Center. Despite an unfavorable team outcome, freshman Chelby Cooke battled to victory through a three-set tiebreaker to tally her first official collegiate win. The Bakersfield, Calif. native won the first set against the Bulldog's Anne Susdorf 6-4 before dropping the second 1-6. The third set went to 7-6 where Cooke seized the tiebreaker 9-7. She was the last player off the courts. Fresno State leads Santa Clara 7-0 all-time.
Check back into SantaClaraBroncos.com over the weekend for all your women's tennis updates and news.
Game Notes
Feb. 21, 2014
No. 63 Santa Clara vs. Fresno State in Fresno, Calif. @ 3:00 p.m. (Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center)
Feb. 22, 2014
No. 63 Santa Clara vs. Boise State in Fresno, Calif. @ 11:00 a.m. (Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center)
GO BRONCOS!
