Women's tennis off to a perfect start after taking down UOP
By Eric Nelson
All is perfect for the women's tennis team; at least in terms of wins. With a 4-3 win against conference rival University of San Francisco last Friday, followed by a victory over University of Pacific, Santa Clara has catapulted themselves to a 6-0 record (1-0 in conference play) early in the season.
"We haven't won at Golden Gate Park in at least five years so it was great to get a win there," said Head Coach Ben Cabell following the match against USF. "The conditions were definitely not ideal today, but overall it was a great team performance."
This appears to be the theme of the season thus far; strong team performances on a game-by-game basis even with a rather inexperienced, youth-filled roster. With only a total of eight players on the team consisting of two juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen, opposing teams might be overeager to look past this team of young players.
Katie Le has answered the call to perform early and often despite her lack of collegiate experience. Grabbing the top spot on the team as a freshman, Katie has yet to be beaten and in the process has taken down two nationally ranked players, both upperclassmen.
When asked if the pressure ever gets to her, Katie coolly responded, "there are a lot of expectations, and I know being in that number one spot there's also a lot of pressure, but just being around my teammates keeps me grounded."
"It's all about the team," said junior team captain Kacie Wagner. "In years past we might not have had the same team chemistry as we have this year and that's something that really sets us apart in my mind. Everybody brings something to the table."
Even a University of Pacific team that Santa Clara had not beaten since the 2002-03 season failed to prove a match for the Broncos, going down in a 6-1 romp. Kelly Lamble and Le led the way, defeating their opponents 4-6, 7-5, 11-9, and 7-5, 7-6, respectively.
Freshman Carolina O'Haren attributes much of the early season success to the team's hard work ethic.
"So far the real challenge has been trying to find a real balance between life and tennis," said O'Haren. "We're out there on the courts or in conditioning working hard for so many hours each day that it's hard to keep up with other things in your life."
Santa Clara will have to maintian their relentless and consistent play if they hope to have a shot at achieving some of the lofty goals they have set for themselves.
"Our goal is to be ranked by the end of the year," says Wagner. "This year we were in the top four for the preseason coaches' poll, which is a nice show of respect, but we're not satisfied yet."
Next stop: Pullman, Wash. for a weekend featuring matches against Washington St., Kansas and Gonzaga.
Contact Eric Nelson at ehnelson@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918