Tennis Begins Fall Season

Team kicks off   schedule with success at Cal InvitationalBrent HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 8, 2015 [dropcap]S[/dropcap]anta Clara women’s tennis began their fall season over the weekend at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational. The Broncos had six entries in the tournament, four singles and two doubles, four of which advanced past the opening round.  On Friday, three Broncos played in the Gold singles bracket of the Cal Invite and all three swept their opening round. Broncos’ Zeina El Tawil beat University of California Davis’ Jessie Lee 6-4 and then 6-1. The Broncos’ Madison Clarke beat Nevada’s Blaga Delic 6-2, 6-2. Broncos’ Janet Liu blanked University of California-Berkely’s Audrey Mayer 6-0, 6-0. Also on Friday in the singles Blue bracket, Broncos’ Chelby Cooke lost in the first round to Brigham Young University’s Nicolette Tran 6-3, 6-4. Cooke later lost to San Jose State University’s Marie Klocker 6-3, 6-1 in the consolation bracket. “I thought we did what I expected,” Head Coach Ben Cabell said. “We had a lot of practice time and were not as sharp as we should be, but that was a result of scheduling.” In the opening round of doubles and gold division, Cooke and Clarke defeated Cal Poly’s duo of Ilana Oleynik and Sayaka Tsugai 8-1 on Friday. On Saturday, the duo took down Davidson’s Kamila Kecki and Kelsie Bryant 8-5 in the round of 16. Eventually, they were defeated in the semifinals against the top-seeded Cal duo of Lyann Hoang and Olivia Hauger. Later in the day, Clarke  played California State University-Sacramento’s Andie Mouzes and lost 6-4, 6-2 thus eliminating her in the round of 16. El Tawil’s day  also ended when she got injured while playing SJSU’s Gaelle Rey.Liu and El Tawil teamed up for doubles but lost to University of San Francisco’s duo of Genev McCloskey and Shanna Dos Santos 8-7(6). The Broncos duo of Liu and El Tawil advanced to the consolation bracket, but El Tawil’s injury prevented them from playing.Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva, the returning first doubles team, competed in doubles portion of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, California. The pair went up against Daneika Borthwick and Yukako Noi of Florida State University and lost 8-2. “We expect to be very good and be able to compete for a conference championship,” Cabell said. “We hope to stay healthy to be able to compete and if we do that we will be in good shape.” The next action for the Broncos will be on October 9- 11 when they head north to Moraga for the St. Mary’s Invitational. Contact Brent Hanower at bhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.