SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After a 4-3 victory over Loyola Marymount last weekend, the No. 72 Santa Clara women's tennis team looks to remain undefeated in West Coast Conference competition on Sat., Mar. 22 when it hosts No. 36 Pepperdine on the Mission campus. The Broncos have won five out of the past six matches.
Santa Clara posts a 7-4 overall dual record after its single-match weekend. The Broncos are 3-1 at home, 2-2 on the road, and 2-1 on neutral surfaces. The team is 2-0 against WCC opponents for the 2014 spring season.
The Broncos added a 4-3 win over a challenging LMU opponent, as the Lions got on the board first by winning the doubles point. Santa Clara was able to convert four out of the six individual matches to take the win for the day's events.
First off the courts with the win was Rouvillois on court two. The sophomore, playing up one position, defeated LMU's Kristine Kouyoumjian in a quick match, 6-2, 6-0. The Grenoble, France native posts an impressive 7-3 singles dual record.
Katie Le continued her dominant senior year season on court one. The No. 28 player took the first set from Lion opponent Jessica Perez, 6-3, and held on strong to close out the match in the second set, 6-4. The Bronco senior has not lost a match since Feb. 14 and stands with an 8-1 record in her final dual season. Le looks to improve her 1-1 dual record against ranked opponents this weekend against Pepperdine.
Stephanie Skaras was able to be the hero for the Broncos on Saturday afternoon with the match score tied 3-3. The senior won a hard earned first set over Laura Mueller of the Lions by a score of 6-4. Skaras fell in the second, 4-6, and Mueller forced the match into a third set. The finesse and stamina of the Bronco proved to be too much for the Lion, and Skaras took the third set, 6-2, capturing the win for Santa Clara. The Melbourne, Australia native is 5-5 in duals this season.
Pepperdine
The No. 36 Pepperdine Waves post a 6-4 dual record and open WCC action this week with a road dual at San Francisco on Fri., Mar. 21 before heading to the Mission campus to face Santa Clara.
The Waves have notable wins over then-No. 25 Arizona State, then-No. 60 UNLV and Fresno State this season. Most recently, Pepperdine is coming off of a 6-1 win over then-No. 53 Long Beach State that snapped the 49ers' 19 consecutive home match winning streak.
Pepperdine boasts two ranked singles players: No. 19 Lorraine Guillermo and No. 105 Ale Granillo. Guillermo, a junior, performs at the No. 1 position for the Waves and posts an 8-2 dual singles record. She is 8-5 against ranked opponents for the 2013-14 season. Granillo is 5-4 in duals, playing consistently at the No. 3 spot. The senior snapped a three-match losing streak with a three-set victory over her Long Beach State opponent.
On the doubles side, the ITA ranks the partnership of Guillermo and Granillo at No. 73 and the duo of Michaela Capannolo and Yuki Chiang at No. 69.
Last Year Against the Waves
Last season, the Broncos fell to the Waves twice—once in regular WCC competition and once in the semifinals of the WCC Championships in April. Pepperdine was the one WCC team that Santa Clara could not top during the spring.
On Mar. 30, Santa Clara fell 6-1 to Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif. No. 28 Le blanked No. 40 Guillermo in the first set 6-0, but could not hold onto momentum for the remainder of the match, falling, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Skaras was able to get the win over Daniella Feneridis on court six, 2-6, 6-4, 12-10.
On Apr. 26 in the WCC semifinal match, Pepperdine once again topped Santa Clara, 4-2. On singles court one, Le battled through two long sets to overtake Guillermo this time around. Le took the first set, 6-4, and the second set was decided in a tiebreaker, ending in Le's favor 7-6(9).
Game Notes – Mar. 22, 2014
#36 Pepperdine vs. #72 Santa Clara @ 12:00 p.m. in Santa Clara, Calif. (Degheri Tennis Center)
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