Fresh Faces Step onto the Court
Women’s tennis debuts freshmen players in BerkeleyTyler J. ScottTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 2, 2014
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith four new additions to the eight player team, the Broncos played against schools from all over the country.The Santa Clara women’s tennis team began their fall season at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational this past weekend.“We only had one week with them before our first competition which forced us to adjust and become comfortable with each other very quickly,” said junior Chelby Cooke. “All of our doubles teams are new which is difficult because no one is sure how their partner plays and what they prefer yet.”The tournament consisted of three singles brackets and two for doubles. Each had their own champion.On Friday, seven Broncos played in matches including senior Elaine Chesoni, junior Delphine Rouvillois and freshman Danielle Zinn.Chesoni was paired up with a University of California, Davis player for doubles and lost 8-2.Rouvillois and Zinn battled in a closer match, losing 8-5.Cooke and freshman Zeina El Tawil lost their doubles match to the No. 4 seed and her partner, 8-5.However, Cooke notched a singles win in three sets after dropping the first against Joanna Smith from Arizona State University 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. She fell in the next round to the No. 3 seed from University of California, Berkeley.
Saturday’s contests included two wins from freshmen — both Riley Morgan and El Tawil won their sets and advanced to the semifinals on Sunday.A duo of Morgan and sophomore Nabila Farah reached the semifinal match in doubles but fell to a pairing from California Polytechnic State University.“It was such a wonderful feeling to get two wins this past weekend as this is my first collegiate tournament,” Morgan said. “I am proud that I represented Santa Clara well and I’m looking forward to hopefully more success this fall.”Sunday saw both El Tawil and Morgan fall in the consolation semifinals, but the team remained positive about the future.“I think we all did well considering we only had one week to prepare together while many other semester schools have been competing for weeks,” Cooke said. “We have a lot to work on and these ini- tial matches are very useful to give us a baseline to start from and improve upon when we go to Stanford (University) in a few weeks.”
She also emphasized the performance of the new additions and the importance of meshing with the freshmen.“Our new players have so far proven to be great additions to our team, and we look forward to getting closer as a team and getting to know each girl better individually on and off the court,” she said.This tournament was the first of five upcoming preseason tournaments for the Broncos. Tyler Scott is a junior marketing major and editor of the Sports section.