SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's tennis opens the 2018 dual match season on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT against UC Davis at the Marya Welch Tennis Center. 

 

"We're all excited to compete and get off to a good start to the season," head coach Ben Cabell said. "The players are all playing really well, they're prepared and it should be fun."

 

All nine players will travel to UC Davis, comprised of three upperclassmen and six underclassmen, all of whom got significant playing time during the fall.   

 

Seniors Zeina El Tawil and Giannina Ong will look to have a strong final season.  In the fall season, El Tawil tied for the most singles wins on the team with six, including winning two of three matches at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships.  Ong is coming off a junior season in which she earned West Coast Conference All-Academic honorable mention honors.  

 

Madison Clarke is the lone junior on the team, looking to build off a sophomore campaign which saw her named to the All-WCC Singles First Team and All-WCC Doubles Second Team with partner Daniella Silva.  The conference recognized Clarke last week naming her to the preseason All-Conference team.  

 

Caitlyn Frankel, Delaney Nothaft and Alabama-transfer Maddie Pothoff make up the sophomore class.  Frankel saw action in four out of six fall tournaments while Nothaft won the consolation bracket at the Cal Fall Invitational, taking four of the five singles matches.  Pothoff partnered with Clarke to qualify for the ITA Women's All American Championships, which included the top-16 doubles teams in the nation.  

 

Along with Potoff, the Broncos have three newcomers with freshman Nadine Del Carmen, Elvena Gevargiz and Katya Tabachnik.  In the fall, each played ten or more singles matches with Del Carmen and Gevargiz each winning five and Tabachnik tying for the team lead with six wins.  

 

The Broncos are coming off a 7-1 win over Dominican University in a scrimmage match on Jan. 20 with Gevargiz and Tabachnik each going 2-0.  

 

For UC Davis, the match against Santa Clara will be its third in the dual match season, having defeated Portland State, 6-1, and WCC opponent Portland, 5-2, last weekend.