Santa Clara Women’s Tennis Closes Regular Season by Downing LMU, 4-1, on Senior Day

Chelby Cooke and Delphine Rouvillois. Recap, photo courtesy of Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's tennis team sent its two seniors out with a win in their final home match as the Broncos downed Loyola Marymount, 4-1, Saturday, clinching a spot in next week's West Coast Conference Championships.

Nabila Farah, Daniella Silva and Madison Clarke were victorious at both singles and doubles to help the Broncos (12-9, 5-3) finish fourth in the league standings and claim one of six spots in the WCC Tournament, which opens Thursday in Los Angeles.

"They deserve it," head coach Ben Cabell said. "They had a really strong conference season to finish
fourth. They've really competed hard and improved throughout the year."

Clarke, just a freshman, clinched the match by outlasting LMU's Andrea Crespo 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 on the No. 2 court.

Not long before that win, Silva and Farah closed out straight set victories against the Lions (9-13, 3-6).

Playing at the No. 1 position, Silva downed Jessica Perez 6-3, 6-3 to give Santa Clara a 2-1 advantage. Moments later Farah finished off Anna Romeka 6-4, 6-2.

The Farah-Silva combination also clinched the first point of the match with their 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles against Perez and Elvira Juravliova after the teams split on the Nos. 2 and 3 courts.

Chelby Cooke, one of two Santa Clara seniors making her final home appearance, combined with Clarke to down Romeka and Tatjiana Shiekhan 6-2 on the second court.

The Broncos improved to 11-0 this season when capturing the doubles point despite playing without one of their top players. Delphine Rouvillois, the other senior on the squad, injured a knee in Friday's loss to No. 9 Pepperdine.

"I'm just really proud of the team," Cabell said. "I thought they fought really hard. There was a lot of adversity after yesterday. They rebounded extremely well today. They played with a lot of heart and for Delphine."

The two unfinished matches were tightly contested. Juravliova led Cooke 2-6, 6-1, 5-3 and Santa Clara's Zeina El Tawil and Shiekhan were knotted at one set apiece.

"LMU is good," Cabell said. "That came down to the wire. We knew that was going to be a close match. LMU has beaten some good teams this year."

Cooke and Rouvillois were recognized prior to the match at Degheri Tennis Center.

Cooke has collected seven dual singles wins and teamed with Clarke to post a team-best 12-5 doubles record this spring. Since returning from a knee injury earlier this spring, Rouvillois had gone 4-4 in singles and been a part of seven doubles victories.

Cooke and Rouvillois are also both standouts in the classroom as finance majors. Cooke has a 3.51 GPA and Rouvillois boasts a 3.94.