Women's tennis begins fall action

By Jackson Morgus

Following a season of mixed results, the Santa Clara women's tennis team returned to action last weekend at the Cal Nike Invitational tournament in Berkeley.

It was the first collegiate tournament for the four Bronco freshmen newcomers, who were collectively ranked the 13th best recruiting class in the nation among mid-majors by tennisrecruiting.net.

The four freshmen are Mary Chamake, Kelly Lamble, Maggie McGeorge and Alex Zaniewski. Head Coach Ben Cabell looks forward to working with this group that may be short on age, but should not be short on talent.

"We have got a young team, but there is a lot of talent there and I like our chances," said Cabell, who is entering his fourth year as the women's tennis coach at Santa Clara.

The freshmen join an already young team of three sophomores and one junior, Carmen Pham.

At the Cal Nike Invitational, Santa Clara competed among 16 schools, including five from the West Coast Conference.

The Broncos had a strong showing from the doubles team of sophomore Isabelle Hoy and freshman Alex Zaniewski, who together fell 8-3 in the blue flight consolation match of the tournament.

In singles, sophomore Kimmi Cox had a solid run in the consolation bracket, falling in the consolation finals of the blue flight 6-2, 6-2.

Hoy bowed out in the semi-finals of the same bracket in three sets, by scores of 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6).

Cabell was impressed by the performance of the young Broncos and saw the tournament as an opportunity to gain exposure to some of the nation's top competitors.

"Our returnees played really well," said Cabell. "They showed that they have really learned from the experience they gained last year."

Up next for the Broncos tennis players are three more fall tournaments. They take on WCC competition at the Saint Mary's Invitational in Moraga on the weekend of Oct. 17, compete in the ITA Regionals at Stanford on the weekend of Oct. 24 and then head south to the Irvine Tournament on Nov. 13.

The four tournaments make up the fall schedule for the Broncos, but the team returns in the winter quarter when they begin their schedule of one-on-one matches.

Fifteen of those matches will be played at home on the courts at Santa Clara's Degheri Tennis Center.

"Girls are playing more for themselves in the fall," said Cabell, referring to the differences between the fall schedule of tournaments and the spring matches. "We will always try to win and be competitive, but this is more about learning and working on things."

The Broncos have a challenging early schedule, taking part in tournaments with the likes of No. 4 Cal, No. 9 Southern California and No. 13 Stanford. The squad will rely on their youth as the team's first-ever ranked recruiting class will need to step up right away.

Cabell, for his part, is prepared to go into these tournaments and the later matches with his young team.

"We are looking to show improvement in terms of our overall record and our standing in the conference," he said. "I think that we do better playing against the same teams."

Contact Jackson Morgus at jmorgus@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.