Tennis riding a winning streak

By Margo Consul

The women's tennis team has erased last season's struggles and is off to a stellar start in their season.

The Broncos are 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the West Coast Conference and they are showing significant improvement from last season; at this point last year, they were 3-5 overall.

"We have a fresh start essentially this season," Head Coach Ben Cabell said.

A roster consisting of five frosh, two sophomores and one junior has contributed to the fresh start. Cabell pointed out that of the six players that have started thus far, four have been frosh.

The players that have stood out are frosh Kelley Lamble and Maggie McGeorge.

"Kelly and Maggie have done a great job right off the bat," Cabell said. "We have had a lot of players who have been playing better than expected."

Lamble is a Saratoga, Calif. native who was ranked No. 76 nationally and in the top 20 players in California during her time at Saratoga High School. McGeorge is a Tucson, Ariz. native who was ranked No. 179 nationally and in the top five in her Southwest section.

Lamble and McGeorge have been paired as a doubles team and have come out with a 4-1 (3-0 WCC) record when together.

Cabell said that winning the games against conference teams is going to be the key to their success this season.

Santa Clara upset Loyola Marymount in a 4-3 victory for the first time in the program's history on February 7.

"It was an awesome win today. We haven't beaten Loyola Marymount in a very long time, so today's win is very exciting," Cabell said the day of the victory. "We definitely feel that we're making progress and moving in the right direction as a team."

He must have been right, as the team is just coming off a 5-2 win over conference rival Portland and a sweep 7-0 over Montana in Portland on Saturday. The wins improved the group's winning streak to four.

The Broncos will be taking on the Rainbow Wahine of Hawaii on Friday. Cabell eyes this match as something that will help boost the team's confidence for their following against conference opponent St. Mary's on Saturday.

"We also have a tough match against St Mary's on Saturday. It's another conference game so we're really hoping to beat Hawaii," Cabell said. "Hopefully our momentum will continue to carry us through."

Contact Margo Consul at mconsul@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.