SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's tennis team concluded its fall season with the San Jose Spartan Invitational that wrapped up on Nov. 9. After a brief winter hiatus, the Broncos are set to return to the court where they left off; Santa Clara takes on San Jose State at home on Feb. 1, 2015 in their first match of the spring season.
"Overall, we did what we expected," said head coach Ben Cabell. "Our new players got a lot of experience and are going to make a big impact for us this year. We still have some work to do, but I think we made a really good start throughout the fall."
The Broncos participated in four tournaments this fall that took them around the Bay Area. Kicking it off, the team traveled to Berkeley for the Cal Nike Fall Invitational. For freshmen Zeina El Tawil, Riley Morgan and Danielle Zinn along with sophomore transfer Nabila Farah, this marked the first matches of their Santa Clara career.
At the Cal Invitational, junior Chelby Cooke, El Tawil, Farah and Morgan all took home their first singles wins of the season. After falling in her opening match, El Tawil took down two straight opponents and reached the consolation semifinals.
"I think the fall season went well for us overall, and it gradually got better for me," said El Tawil. "It's a totally new experience that I've been looking forward to for along time and it felt great to be here and compete already. I'm very excited to play as a team in the spring."
In the largest tournament of the fall season – the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals, held in Palo Alto, Calif. – two more Broncos tallied their first wins of the season. Zinn partnered with Farah to defeat Allen and Chen of Washington, while junior Delphine Rouvillois left a strong impression with the competition, ripping off three consecutive wins to make it to the round of 16. Rouvillois followed this showing with two more singles wins at the St. Mary's Invitational in Moraga. Senior Elaine Chesoni also earned her first win of the season here while partnered with Morgan, beating Meunier and Tice of Davis.
Cabell praised Rouvillois' growth and play in the fall season. "Delphine has done a really good job solidifying herself as one of the best players in the conference," said Cabell.
Sophomore Daniella Silva made her fall debut in Spartan Invitational, the final tournament of the fall, and notched two quick singles wins over the weekend.
"Daniella did a lot of hard work to get herself back on the court," added Cabell. "Getting her back and healthy is a big one for us."
Now the Broncos look ahead towards the spring season, and coach Cabell seeks to apply what the team has learned and what worked. "We definitely saw some things we liked this season, and now the goal is to put that together on the court all at the same time."
Rouvillois gives credit to her teammates and the team as a whole. "We could not be happier with our four newbies; they all fit very well in our team," raved Rouvillois. "I am lucky to practice with teammates whose level allows me to improve my game a lot. Fall allowed us to create good chemistry both on and off the court, which is really important going forward into the dual season that starts in February."
Go Broncos! @scuwtennis
