Team Serves Up Two Shutouts
Women’s tennis routs in their first matches of the early season
Andrews SlapTHE SANTA CLARAJanuary 29, 2014
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Santa Clara women’s tennis team started its season strong, racking up two convincing wins on Saturday.
In the morning, the Broncos faced Academy of Art University, beating them 4-0.
“The Academy of Art is tough,” said Head Coach Ben Cabell. “They’re a nationally ranked Division II school. They come out and play with nothing to lose, and they’re good players.”
Santa Clara got out to a quick lead, with juniors Chelby Cooke and Delphine Rouvillois winning their doubles match 6-0.
Sophomores Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva followed with a 6-0 victory, clinching the doubles point for Santa Clara.
The veterans continued to play well in their singles matches. Farah breezed through her match, keeping her adversary from winning a single game.
Cooke also made quick work of her opponent, winning 6-0, 6-1. Silva finished the sweep, winning her match as well.
“I was very happy,” Cabell said. “With the first match of the year I’m always a little nervous, kind of getting the rust off.”
The Broncos carried their momentum into the afternoon against Sonoma State University.
Graduate student Elaine Chesoni and freshman Danielle Zinn won their doubles match 6-1 and the freshman team of Zeina El Tawil and Riley Morgan debuted with a convincing 6-1 victory.
“Our freshmen played very well today,” Cabell said. “It’s never easy playing your first college match, and they handled it very well.”
In singles, the Broncos continued to dominate.
El Tawil got the first victory, beating her opponent 6-0, 6-2. Chesoni followed with a 6-1, 6-0 win and Rouvillois finished off the victories with two scores of 6-2.
The three singles victories gave Santa Clara another 4-0 win for the day but Zinn, Cooke and Farah finished their matches with victories as well.
Although both the Academy of Art and Sonoma State are Division II schools, they still presented a challenge to the Broncos.
“We had to play under pressure and with some expectations,” Cabell said. “And I thought we handled that very well today.”
With every Bronco winning their match without dropping a single set, Santa Clara could not have done any better to start off their season.
The squad looks to stay unbeaten against San Jose State University on Sunday.
Contact Andrew Slap at aslap@scu.edu.