SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Santa Clara women's tennis team fell to No. 75-ranked UC Santa Barbara 4-2 Sunday in a hard-fought match.

"Santa Barbara's a really good team and I was proud of our effort today," said head coach Ben Cabell. "I think we fought really hard, coming off a big conference win. That match was a really close, it came down to a couple points."

The Gauchos (15-7) took the doubles point from the Broncos (11-8) behind their No. 21-ranked doubles duo of Palina Dubavets and Stefani Stojic on Court 1 and Melissa Baker and Stephanie Yamada on Court 2.

Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva challenged Dubavets and Stojic but ultimately fell by a score of 6-4. Chelby Cooke and Madison Clarke also lost 6-4 on Court 2, giving UC Santa Barbara the 1-0 lead.

"I think we played well," Cabell said. "We weren't able to pull it out, but they're a good team. They're in the rankings for a reason."

Singles play started off well, with Cooke defeating Jaimee Gilbertson on Court 4 by scores of 6-2, 6-2. It was back and forth from there with Lou Adler defeating Silva on Court 1, then Farah defeating Amanda Atanasson on Court 5.

The Broncos were unable to overcome losing the doubles point, however, and Zeina El Tawil lost on Court 6 and Clarke fell to Stojic on Court 3 to seal the deal for the Gauchos.

"I'm happy with our level of play, I think we're going toe-to-toe with ranked teams and giving ourselves a chance to win," Cabell said. "So, I'm happy overall, hopefully we can keep building and be ready for this final conference push here."

Santa Clara hosts conference opponents Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount on Friday and Saturday to close out the season before the WCC Championships.