April 3, 2016 Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--The Gonzaga University women's tennis team returned to its winning ways Sunday, sweeping Santa Clara 4-0 at the Degheri Tennis Center in Santa Clara.
The Zags started the match by winning the doubles point, taking it two matches to one. At No. 3 doubles, Sissi Koehler and Domonique Garley swept Delphine Rouvillois and Nabila Farah 6-0 to lead off the dual. Santa Clara later countered with a 7-5 win on court two, but Samantha Polayes and Sophie Whittle clinched the point with a 7-5 win of their own atop the doubles lineup.
With the start of singles play, Gonzaga quickly ran the score up to 3-0 with the first two individual matches to finish. For the second match in a row, freshman Nevada Apollo won the first singles match to finish, beating Chelby Cooke in straight sets. She won six of seven games in the first set and doubled up Cooke in the second for a 6-1, 6-3 win. She has 21 wins on the year and 11th of the dual season. At No. 2 singles, Polayes beat Rouvillois in two sets for the Zags' third point and Polayes' 17th win of the year. The senior from nearby Morgan Hill, Calif., doubled up the Bronco in the first set at 6-3 and took the second by a break at 6-4.
On court six, Garley clinched the win with three-set match. She beat Zenia El Tawil in the first set 6-1, but El Tawil countered with a 1-6 win of her own in the second. The freshman from Fort Worth, Texas, bounced back and took the third set by a similar 6-1 scoreline for Gonzaga's fourth point on the day. Garley now leads the team with 13 dual wins and is tied with Whittle with 22 overall wins.
Once the Zags clinched the win, three singles contests were left unfinished. Atop the doubles lineup, Whittle held a set lead on Daniella Silva, while Graciela Rosas was in her third set against Farah. Alex Bourguignon was down a set on court four when her match was halted.
"The team did a great job responding to a difficult loss on Saturday," said Gonzaga head coach D.J. Gurule. "We came out with a great mindset, and now we have to get ready for a couple of tough matches next weekend."
The Zags (13-2, 3-1 WCC) now return home for two key matches at The Stevens Center. On Friday, April 8, they host Loyola Marymount at 11:00 a.m., and ninth-ranked Pepperdine comes to town Saturday, April 9. The Waves top the conference at 3-0 while GU and LMU are tied for second on the WCC ladder.
