Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash.—The Gonzaga University women's tennis squad wrapped up the regular season at home Saturday, claiming a big 5-2 Senior Day victory over Santa Clara at The Stevens Center in Spokane.
Gonzaga won the match by taking three of the first four singles points. The first of those singles wins came from junior Melanie Yates at No. 6 singles. She got the Zags going in singles play with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Danielle Zinn. The perfect outing was her 10th individual victory of the season.
Santa Clara grabbed a point on court three when Alex Bourguignon fell in straight sets to Chelby Cooke, but Franziska Koehler picked the Zags right back up with a win on court six. Koehler swept Riley Morgan 6-0, 6-0 for her first sweep of the season as well. She's currently second on the team with 18 singles wins, a personal best.
Playing her final collegiate match at The Stevens Center, Katie Edwards clinched the win for Gonzaga. The senior took on Nabila Farah atop the singles lineup, beating the Bronco in straight sets. Edwards won the first frame by two games at 6-4, and she doubled up Farah 6-3 for the clinching victory. The Aloha, Ore., native has 12 dual singles wins on the year, all of which have come at No. 1 singles.
Fellow senior Kylie Peek also picked up a win in her final match at The Stevens Center, coming back from a one-set deficit to do so. Peek won five games in her first frame against Zeina El Tawil but lost the set by a 5-7 score. She bounced back to take the second set 6-4, and the two played a tough third set super tiebreak. El Tawil took a big lead in the deciding frame, but Peek erased that deficit for a 10-8 super tiebreak victory and her 17th win of the season. That total equals Peek's tally of 17 singles wins in her freshman season of 2012-13.
Before Peek picked up Gonzaga's fifth point, Samantha Polayes also went to a third set tiebreak on court two. After dropping her first set 7-5 to Santa Clara's Danielle Silva, Polayes bounced back to take the second 3-6. She kept pace with Silva initially in the tiebreak but fell in the end 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (7).
Gonzaga opened up the match with a win in the doubles point, its 12th of the dual season. Both seniors who played Saturday won a doubles match as Peek and Koehler opened up doubles with a 6-1 win on court three. A few minutes later, Edwards and Polayes took the match on court one by a similar score. On court two, Yates and Bourguignon led 5-1 when that match was halted.
Saturday marked the final regular season game for Edwards, Peek, and fellow senior Alexandra Tallas. Like the other two, Tallas has been on the GU women's tennis team for the last four years, but she lost out on playing her senior year due to injury. She closed her collegiate career with 50 total wins - 23 singles and 27 doubles victories.
"We are so thankful for our three seniors and are thrilled they got to go out with a win today," said Gonzaga women's tennis head coach D.J. Gurule. "Katie, Kylie, and Alexandra have done so much for this program; it's impossible to imagine this team without them."
With the win, the Zags advance to 12-8 overall and 3-6 in West Coast Conference play. They're currently a half game behind 3-5 Santa Clara for sixth place, but Santa Clara closes out the regular season at #61 Portland Sunday, April 19. Both Pacific and San Diego have a chance to join the potential log jam at 3-6 as well. Whichever team gets the sixth seed - or owns the tiebreaker among all teams tied for sixth - will receive a first round bye in the West Coast Conference Championships, held April 22-25 in San Diego, Calif.
