Oct. 17, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After their strong showing at the St. Mary's Invitational last weekend, the Santa Clara women's tennis team heads to neighboring Stanford for the ITA Northwest Regionals this weekend. Eight players will head over for the Regionals, which feature teams from all over the Northwest. The women hope to continue the success they had in last weekend's matches.
Last weekend at the St. Mary's Invitational, Friday's matches were cancelled due to rainy weather. However, the team came back Saturday to secure some big wins.
"Last weekend's matches went well," said head coach Ben Cabell. "We got rained out on Friday which made it tough for Saturday and Sunday's matches, but we had some good wins on Saturday."
In singles action, freshman Ashley Pane advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the Red draw of the tournament before she finally fell against Stephanie Ordoveza from St. Mary's in a tough 6-3; 6-3 match. Stephanie Galainena also had a great win against Lindsey Griffin from Portland in a tough three set match, 1-6; 6-4; 1-0 (12-10).
"Ashley really showed some maturity this weekend for a freshman," said Cabell. "Stephanie also did really well, winning against a good player, and came back after losing the first set."
The doubles teams also did extremely well with three of four teams making it to the quarterfinals. At the tournament, Ashley Pane partnered up with fellow freshman Andrea Kwong for a gripping win against a difficult team from Cal. They were able to outlast the team of Bojana Bobusic and Daron Moore 9-8 (3).
"It was a huge win for us in doubles," Pane said. "We were up 7-4 and got too overconfident so they came back. We finally beat them in the tiebreaker so it was exciting."
Cabell is very happy with the way the way the girls have played this fall season and is thrilled with the improvements he has seen.
"I'm very, very happy with the way things have gone." Cabell said. "We've had some tough competition, but we've won a lot of close matches. The younger girls are doing great and the upperclassmen have been doing well playing against some of the best players in the country."
On Saturday, October 20th, the Broncos will have the chance to continue improving in the ITA Regionals, where they will face Pac-10 foes, a few rivals from the WCC, as well as other schools from around the Northwest.
"The Regionals are different because it's one big draw," said Cabell. "It's different than the tournaments we've been playing. We'll be up against some really good teams and some average teams. Someone could be up against the number one player in the country or against an average player. It'll be a chance to see where we are compared to other teams and a chance to beat some ranked players. It's a chance for us to go up in the rankings."
The ITA Northwest Regionals will be held at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford from Friday, October 19th until Monday, October 22nd. Bronco fans can catch all the latest results online at SantaClaraBroncos.com.
