Broncos' Women's Tennis Picks Up Two Big Wins

By Emily Schultz

The No. 73 Santa Clara women's tennis team upset both No. 68 UC Davis and No. 65 UC Santa Barbara during a successful weekend at home on the courts of the Degheri Tennis Center. The two wins demonstrated the growing strength of the women's tennis program, which has been developing over the past few seasons.

Cabell was optimistic about the future of his team, acknowledging the long-term effort that has been put forth to achieving the new level of success this season. 

"Most of this team has played together for the past three years now, and while they used to be young, they are now more experienced," said Cabell.

On Saturday, the team defeated UC Davis 4-3 by winning all three doubles matches and splitting the six singles matches. Santa Clara's Katie Le defeated Megan Heneghan 6-3, 6-4 in her singles matches. Le and partner Jessica Agra won in doubles by a score of 8-5 over Davis' Heneghan and Kelly Chui. 

With only one day to rest, the Broncos had to immediately look forward to their next match against UC Santa Barbara on Monday. The team came out strong against the Gauchos, winning two out of the three doubles matches, and again claiming the ever-important doubles point. 

Then, in a complete rout, the Broncos swept the visitors by winning all six singles matches to finish the day with a 7-0 win over UC Santa Barbara. Santa Clara faced minimal adversity in the doubles matches, winning all but one in straight sets. 

Head coach Ben Cabell emphasized the magnitude of the Santa Barbara match by stating that the Gauchos are a historically "close rival," and praised the women for the "good chances" they took against the Gauchos. This commanding victory displayed the Broncos' steady improvement over the past few seasons.  

As the team looks to make the national tournament this May, the Broncos will face increasingly tough competition. 

Although the two matches played this weekend were non-conference wins for Santa Clara, the team currently has a record of 6-2 and is looking to pile up the wins as they face more opponents from the West Coast Conference in the coming weeks. As each member of the team continues to hone her individual skills, the doubles teams will naturally grow stronger as well. 

The Broncos will next face local rival University of San Francisco in a home match on March 2.

Contact Emily Schultz at eschultz@scu.edu.