Bronco tennis battles Rebels
By Erin Chambers
Women's tennis faced a tough but underrated team last weekend in their match against UNLV. While the Rebels recorded the 6-1 victory over the Broncos, junior Christine Limbers emerged once again as a stand-out player with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 win over UNLV's No. 59 Paulina Janus, Santa Clara's only point of the match.
The Rebels stand at No. 59 in the nation and improve to a 4-1 record overall, their only loss coming at the hands of No. 3 Stanford. Santa Clara falls to 3-4.
"UNLV is a top 20 caliber team," Head Coach Aby Ryan said. "They have a strong lineup from top to bottom. They should continue to have success through their league. I am really happy with the way our team continues to battle."
Although the Rebel's depth and consistency depended on solid play from senior Marianne Bakken and a slew of young talent from overseas, including freshman Gyorgyi Zsiros from Budapest and freshman Leentjie Oosthuizen from South Africa, the team is centered around Janus. She is a two-time Mountain West Player of the Week, but couldn't do much in the face of Limbers' power and focus.
Limbers dominated Janus from the start, taking the first set 6-4 and beginning the second with similar intensity. Janus had to retire after the first game of the second set due to an ankle injury, thus granting the victory to Limbers.
"I was really pleased with the way Limbers played," Ryan said. "She was playing well and clearly winning the match when Janus went down with an injury."
While significant for Limbers, the win was not her only victory against a top ranked player this season. The junior from Glendale, Ariz., who lead her high school team to a state title her senior year, also posted a win over No. 1 singles player Ana Maria Lacob of Cal State Fullerton earlier this season.
"Last weekend she earned a solid victory against a nationally-ranked player and she did it again today," Ryan said. "These two victories, back-to-back, should help her a great deal."
The loss to UNLV dropped the Broncos to 3-4, but due to a 5-2 victory the next day over UC Santa Barbara, their record evened to 4-4 by the end of the weekend. The women return to action this weekend continuing a six-match home stand at the Santa Clara Tennis Center against Bay Area rival USF on Friday at 2 p.m. and Northern Arizona on Saturday at 1 p.m.