SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's tennis team has begun preparing for another exciting season after the Broncos' semifinal finish in the West Coast Conference Championships last spring. The team will play its first tournament this season, the Cal Nike Fall Invitational, starting this Fri., Sept. 26 through Sun., Sept 28 in Berkeley, Calif.
Fans can follow the action at the Hellman Tennis Complex's six courts via the live stream available by clicking here. Live streaming and live stats are not available for the matches at the Channing Tennis Courts.
"With so many new players, we are looking to get some matches under our belt and see how they play," said Santa Clara head coach Ben Cabell entering his ninth year at the helm. "We have only been practicing for a week so we are treating this as practice matches to see what we can do and what we need to practice on for the rest of the season. We are going to focus on doubles and try to work on some doubles combinations this fall. It's a really good chance to play against tough competition and see what we can do."
The Cal Nike Fall Invitational will consist of three singles flights and two doubles flights, with each flight producing a champion. The following 12 teams will join host Cal in the tournament: Arizona State, BYU, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Fresno State, Nevada, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, San Jose State and Santa Clara.
The Cal Nike Fall Invitational is the first of four preseason tournaments for the 2014-15 Broncos. The team competed in this invite last year and had a good showing with two players making it into the top flights in singles play.
"I like the schedule this season," said Cabell. "It's spaced out well with tournaments every other weekend. We have time to prepare for each tournament and will give us a chance to get in a lot of matches. There are a lot of very good players and teams in the Bay Area so the level of competition is high and good for our team."
After two players graduated last spring, the Broncos have added four new players to their roster to total a line up of eight. Cabell has added some international flair to the team with freshmen Zenia El Tawil from Cairo, Egypt and Danielle Zinn from Herzeliya, Israel. Freshman Riley Morgan makes her way up to the Bay Area from Palos Verdes, Calif. and was the Bay League Doubles Champion her senior year. In addition, sophomore transfer Nabila Farah hails from Santa Cruz, Bolivia and comes to the Mission campus after one year at the College of William and Mary.
"The new players are doing awesome so far," said Cabell. "It's a little overwhelming starting out with classes and matches all in the same week. They have all come a long way to come to school here, but they are working hard on the court and adjusting quickly."
Check back into SantaClaraBroncos.com and the Cal Nike Invite website over the weekend for all the results and draws.
GO BRONCOS!
