WCC Tennis Championships Central
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's tennis team's season came to an end in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Championships on Friday, falling to No. 8-ranked Pepperdine University 4-0.
"We lost today, but (the team) really put in a great effort," said head coach Ben Cabell. "We almost pulled out the doubles point and fought really hard today. They've done that the whole year, so I'm really proud of them and they deserve to get credit for a great season."
The doubles duo of Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva dropped their match against the Waves' No. 23-ranked doubles partners, Luisa Stefani and Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai 6-3 on Court 1.
Soon after, Zeina El Tawil and Elizabeth Stephens fell to Laura Gulbe and Dzina Milovanovic 6-4 on Court 3 to notch the doubles point for Pepperdine (20-2), which won its 11th-straight match.
On Court 2, Madison Clarke and Chelby Cooke were leading 5-4 against the No. 18 doubles team in the country, Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox, but the match was not finished.
Singles was much of the same for the fourth-seeded Broncos (13-10), with the No. 1-seeded Waves rattling off three straight victories to win the match. They will face Saint Mary's in the Saturday's final at 2 p.m.
The team's 4-2 victory over then-No. 39 South Alabama on Feb. 28 was one of the season highlights. That was the highest-ranked program the Broncos have ever beaten. Santa Clara knocked off fifth-seeded BYU in Thursday's opening round of the WCC Championships.
"I definitely want to single out our seniors and what they've done for the team over the years," Cabell said. "It's always hard to have to play their last match, but they were both great players for us. I think (Cooke) played every single dual match in her four years that she was eligible for and that's a really impressive stat. Delphine (Rouvillois) was an incredible player for us and I wish her the best. It's just still terrible she couldn't be on the court for her final match, but she had an incredible career for us, overall. The team and coaches will miss the seniors going forward."
Cooke won 10 singles matches and was a part of a team-high 17 doubles victories this season. Rouvillois returned from a knee injury part way through the spring and recorded four singles wins and was on the court for six doubles victories. Unfortunately, injured her knee again against Pepperdine on April 22.
Farah earned a spot on the WCC All-Tournament team as the No. 4 singles player.
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