SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's tennis team was triumphant Sunday over San Diego for its first conference win, overcoming the Toreros by a telling final score of 6-1. The Broncos improve to 4-7 on the season.
Following up on a 5-2 loss to No. 50 Brigham Young on March 21, Santa Clara came out with vigor against San Diego from the start.
"Our girls played very well," said Bronco head coach Ben Cabell. "Once again, doubles were the key to the match."
The Toreros gained the very early advantage, as Blecher and Koleta beat Zeina El Tawil and Riley Morgan 6-1. Daniella Silva and Nabila Farah were next, retaliating and winning over Oppinger and Spinosa 6-2. Chelby Cooke and Delphine Rouvillois closed the doubles point with a win over Morkel-Brink and Stojanovic 6-4.
"Today was a complete team effort, we came out really strong and with a lot of energy in the doubles and were able to transfer the momentum into the singles," said Chelby Cooke.
Cooke was the first singles player to finish with a strong win over Blecher, 6-0, 6-1. Nabila Farah squared up against Oppinger for the second time and again came out with the dominant W: 6-1, 6-1. With the Broncos leading 3-0, Daniella Silva sealed the deal for Santa Clara over Spinosa, 6-4, 6-4.
San Diego tallied its only point of the day at the No. 6 singles spot, as Danielle Zinn couldn't quite pull away the final set and lost to Janine Koleta.
Santa Clara still put away two points before the day was over. Rouvillois beat Stojanovic 6-4, 7-5 and El Tawil was victorious over Morkey-Brink 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5).
"It was great to get a conference win and are excited to keep it going," Cooke said.
"I'm really proud of the way our team came out today after a tough loss on Saturday to a really good BYU team," added Cabell. "San Diego is always tough. We haven't beat them a lot and it's always great to come away with the win."
Santa Clara is back at the Degheri Tennis Center on March 27 to face the Montana Grizzlies.
Check back to SantaClaraBroncos.com for more news and updates.
Go Broncos!
Santa Clara 6, San Diego 1
Doubles | Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1) Silva/Farah (SCU) def. Oppinger/Spinosa (USD) 6-2
2) Cooke/Rouvillois (SCU) def. Morkel-Brink/Stojanovic (USD) 6-4
3) Blecher/Koleta (USD) def. El Tawil/Morgan (SCU) 6-1
Singles | Order of Finish: 4, 2, 3*, 1, 6, 5
1) Delphine Rouvillois (SCU) def. Marta Stojanovic (USD) 6-4, 7-5
2) Nabila Farah (SCU) def. Dana Oppinger (USD) 6-1, 6-1
3) Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Drew Spinosa (USD) 6-4, 6-4
4) Chelby Cooke (SCU) def. Shani Blecher (USD) 6-0, 6-1
5) Zeina El Tawil (SCU) def. Mikayla Morkey-Brink (USD) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5)
6) Janine Koleta (USD) def. Danielle Zinn (SCU) 5-7, 6-4, 10-6
