Le Closes Career As Bronco

Senior sits at the top with most wins in university historyTyler J. ScottTHE SANTA CLARAMay 22, 2014[dropcap]S[/dropcap]enior Katie Le  became the first player in Santa Clara history to go to three straight singles championships at the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Tennis Championship.Le traveled to the University of Georgia as an At-Large selection in this year’s tournament, joining 63 other players from across the nation.The singles competition began yesterday and will continue until May 26 in Athens, Ga. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The matches will be in a best-of-three sets format with regular scoring. There will also be a 12-point tiebreaker if a match reaches six games.Le, ranked No. 31 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, fell to the University of Florida’s No. 14 ranked Olivia Janowicz in the first round of the singles championships by scores of 6-0 and 6-2.Before Le left for Georgia, she spoke on going to the championships and reflected on her time at Santa Clara.“I don’t really focus on the seeds or the selections that are made,” Le said. “Each and every person competing in the tournament, whether they are ranked in the top 10 or the top 50, are all great players and each round will be extremely tough, especially under the hot conditions.” She said that she was not going to underestimate anyone on the court, no matter their ranking.“The NCAAs have been, by far, my favorite tournament and after making it for the first time sophomore year, I made it one of my goals to play in the tournament every year after,” said Le. “I have started the last two seasons with this mindset, and seeing the results that I wanted is extremely rewarding.”During the regular season, Le played at the No. 1 position at Santa Clara in both singles and doubles. She has played at that position for four straight years, ever since she first joined the Broncos. In this year’s campaign she established a 28-5 overall record and a 17-2 record in dual matches before heading to Athens. She holds a spot at the top of the all-time wins list at Santa Clara with 103 career singles victories. Every one of her individual season records sits in the top 10 of that list as well.She was only pushed to three-sets five times since September and went 2-2 against other ranked opponents. Le’s most notable victory over a ranked challenger occurred on March 22 when she upset Pepperdine University’s Lorraine Guillermo, who was then ranked No. 19 in the nation, with scores of 7-5 and 6-4.The longest winning streak Le experienced was 13 games in a row. Throughout her notable career she has amassed an array of accolades including the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year in 2011 and WCC Player of the Year in 2012, as well as earning First and Second-Team honors in singles every year of her career.She was also awarded the No. 1 doubles All-Tournament Team with her partner, sophomore Chelby Cooke, this year.Besides Le, the WCC was represented by Guillermo from Pepperdine and Jenny Jullien from Saint Mary’s College.The two were ranked No. 26 and No. 11, respectively, but only one of them would grab the victory.Guillermo fell to Duke University’s Beatrice Capra but Jullien came through with a three-set victory against Ronit Yurovsky from the University of Michigan.“It’s an honor to have played for Santa Clara and earn the recognition that I did at this university,” Le said. “I was exposed to so many different opportunities that helped me improve my game here over the past three years, and I never imagined I would ever be able to compete at the level I am now. It’s bittersweet to graduate and see an end to my tennis career as well as my college experience, but I have had a wonderful past four years and could not have asked for more.” Contact Tyler J. Scott at tscott@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.