MORAGA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's tennis opened up competition at the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational on Friday with a strong showing. Junior Zeina El Tawil and freshman Caitlyn Frankel highlighted the day for the Broncos by earning a spot in the doubles semifinal in bracket B.
El Tawil and Frankel had a tough matchup in the round of 16 to start the doubles competition on Friday, defeating Amber Del Rosario and Alisha Sharm (San Francisco), 8-7 (8). The duo then advanced to the semifinal due to an injury on their would-be quarterfinal opponents. The Broncos duo will face Claire Bouquet (Cal Poly) and Sabrina Rodriguez (Pacific) in the semifinal on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT.
El Tawil also advanced to the singles quarterfinal round in the A bracket. She made it to the round of 16 via withdrawal due to illness in the opener. She then beat Audrey Mayer (California), 6-3, 6-0, to earn a spot in Saturday's quarterfinal at 1:30 p.m. PT.
Sophomore Madison Clarke came back to defeat Emma Critser (St. Mary's), 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 and earn a spot in the round of 16. Clarke will face No. 3 seed Olivia Hauger (California) on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. PT.
Junior Giannina Ong and freshman Caraline Patterson won their doubles opening round matchup in bracket B, 8-6, defeating Abigail Bacharach and Celine Gruaz (Cal Poly). The duo lost in the quarterfinal to Kristina Breisacher and Isabella Von Ebbe (UC Davis), 8-0. Clarke and sophomore Elizabeth Stephens also competed in bracket B but came up short in the round of 16, losing 8-7 (5) to Bouquet and Rodriguez.
Competition at Timothy Korth Tennis Complex resumes on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT. Click here for updated brackets.
