SANTA CLARA, Calif. (San Jose, Calif.) – The Santa Clara women's tennis team competed in the Spartan Invitational over the weekend and wrapped up its competitive Fall season. Over the past three days, the team participated in singles and doubles matches against host San Jose State and West Coast Conference opponent San Francisco.
"Overall, we competed really well and are looking forward to working on a few things for the spring season," said Bronco head coach Ben Cabell. "At San Jose State, we made progress for the fall. I think Nabila had a very strong tournament. It was great to have Dani Silva back playing with us as well. She did very well for her first tournament back."
The Spartan Invitational was the first Fall tournament to host a dual format that mirrors Spring play. The Broncos competed in singles against San Jose State on Friday morning and then turned around to play three doubles matches against San Francisco. Saturday featured more singles matches against each opponent, and then the Broncos went up against USF in singles and San Jose State in doubles on Sunday.
"The dual format this weekend was fun," said Cabell. "Nevada had pulled out two days before so we had to readjust the schedule. We were still able to get a lot of good matches in, and it was fun to play as a team in a lineup."
On the singles side, Daniella Silva got off to a fresh start when she defeated Abbie Pahz of the Spartans in two sets, 6-2, 6-1. Both Nabila Farah and Zeina El Tawil battled to three set victories on Friday. Farah fell in the first set to Marie Klocker in a tiebreak, 6-7(4), but was able to bounce back in the second set, taking it also in a tiebreak, 7-6(5). The third and final set was played as a tiebreaker, and Farah trumped her opponent, 10-6. El Tawil, a freshman, fell in the first set to Malin Cubukcu of San Jose State, but was able to break Cubukcu in the second set, 6-4. El Tawil breezed through the third set tiebreaker, winning 10-3.
In doubles on Friday, the junior duo of Delphine Rouvillois and Chelby Cooke captured the sole doubles win for the Broncos. They topped Genev McCloskey and Thyra Taune of San Francisco handedly, 8-3.
Cooke and Farah pulled out solid victories on Saturday. Playing on court two, Cooke defeated Marina Nikoli of USF in a three set match. Cooke took the first set, 6-4, and then was edged in the second set, 5-7. Cooke kept up the battle in the third set tiebreak and won 11-9. Then against San Jose State, Farah endured another three set victory this time topping Gaelle Rey, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
Sunday featured matchups between USF in singles and San Jose State in doubles. Cooke and Silva came away with wins against USF. Silva defeated Genev McCloskey in a three set battle, walking away with the third set tiebreak win, 10-7. Cooke swept MilHadzi-Tanovic in two straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.
In Sunday's doubles, the Broncos fell in all three matches but did not go down without a fight. Cooke and Silva paired together on court one and went up against Julianna Bacelar and Marie Klocker of San Jose State. They were just edged, 8-7(4).
Santa Clara has wrapped up preseason play for the Fall and will resume play on Feb. 1 against San Jose State on the Mission campus.
Friday Results of Spartan Invitational
Singles:
Jessica Willett (SJS) def. Riley Morgan (SCU) 6-2;6-1
Zeina El Tawil (SCU) def. Malin Cubukcu (SJS) 2-6;6-4;1-0(3)
Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Abbie Pahz (SJS) 6-2;6-1
Julianna Bacelar (SJS) def. Chelby Cooke (SCU) 6-3;7-5
Nabila Farah (SCU) def. Marie Klocker (SJS) 6-7(4);7-6(5);1-0(6)
Gaelle Rey (SJS) def. Delphine Rouvillois (SCU) 6-4;4-6;1-0(4)
Doubles:
Ines Teixeira/MilHadzi-Tanovic (USF) def. Danielle Zinn/Zeina El Tawil (SCU) 8-7(3)
Delphine Rouvillois/Chelby Cooke (SCU) def. Genev McCloskey/Thyra Taune (USF) 8-3
Andrea Ka/Sofia Holmberg (USF) def. Daniella Silva/Nabila Farah (SCU) 8-3
Saturday Results
Singles:
Ines Teixeira (USF) def. Riley Morgan (SCU) 6-1;6-2
Genev,McCloskey (USF) def. Elaine Chesoni (SCU) 6-2;6-1
MilHadzi-Tanovic (USF) def. Danielle Zinn (SCU) 6-1;6-2
Chelby Cooke (SCU) def. Marina Nikolic (USF) 6-4;5-7;1-0(9)
Andrea Ka (USF) def. Daniella Silva (SCU) 6-2;6-1
Jessica Willett (SJS) def. Danielle Zinn (SCU) 6-1;6-0
Malin Cubukcu (SJS) def. Elaine Chesoni (SCU) 6-0;6-1
Abbie Pahz (SJS) def. Chelby Cooke (SCU) 6-4;6-4
Julianna Bacelar (SJS) def. Zeina El Tawil (SCU) 6-3;6-1
Marie Klocker (SJS) def. Delphine Rouvillois (SCU) 2-6;6-3;7-6(3)
Nabila Farah (SCU) def. Gaelle Rey (SJS) 2-6;6-3;7-6(4)
Sunday Results
Singles:
Sofia Holmberg (USF) def. Elaine Chesoni (SCU) 6-0;6-4
Ines Teixeira (USF) def. Danielle Zinn (SCU) 2-6;6-2;1-0(7)
Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Genev,McCloskey (USF) 7-5;2-6;1-0(7)
Marina Nikolic (USF) def. Zeina El Tawil (SCU) 6-4;6-2
Chelby Cooke (SCU) def. MilHadzi-Tanovic (USF) 6-1;6-0
Andrea Ka (USF) def. Nabila Farah (SCU) 6-1;6-4
Doubles:
Jessica Willett/Malin Cubukcu (SJS) def. Danielle Zinn/Riley Morgan (SCU) 8-3
Abbie Pahz/Gaelle Rey (SJS) def. Delphine Rouvillois/Nabila Farah (SCU) 8-4
Julianna Bacelar/Marie Klocker (SJS) def. Chelby Cooke/Daniella Silva (SCU) 8-7(4)
Go Broncos! @scuwtennis
