ASU women's tennis picked up its second home win in as many days Sunday, it was just a little more difficult this time.
The 27th-ranked Sun Devils battled through a 5-2 win over No. 38 Long Beach State at the Whiteman Tennis Center, staying unblemished at home this spring season.
"Long Beach State is a good team, they fought hard, they made it tough on us," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "We knew it was going to be a battle."
The home team got off to a good start as ASU grabbed the doubles point for the seventh consecutive match. Seniors Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad earned their first win together of the spring season. The pairing had been ranked sixth nationally in the preseason poll before they were forced to split up when Vlad went down for a month with a stress reaction in her shin.
"Our first match together against Pepperdine was a little rough, just getting readjusted with each other," Vlad said. "But I love playing with her; I'm just excited to be back with Des and get the win."
Singles play also started well as the lower courts carried the Sun Devils again. Freshman Sammi Hampton was first off the court for the second straight day, defeating San Jose States' Laura Eales 6-3, 6-4. Gussie O'Sullivan was close behind, earning a 6-2, 6-3 win on court six. Neither Hampton nor O'Sullivan has lost a singles match yet this season.
"Even though we are playing a little lower down we know we're still a huge part of this team," she said. "It's a really great feeling to get off the court early and help out those higher positions."
The top four would need all the help they could get. Each of the first four courts went to a decisive third set, with senior Ebony Panoho and Vlad pulling out victories to seal the team competition. After wrapping up the win, ASU's top two players lost to end the day.
Junior Kassidy Jump suffered her second defeat in her last three matches on the third court for the Sun Devils, dropping a seven-point tiebreaker to the 49ers senior Ebba Unden. Krawczyk also failed to nail down a win as Long Beach State junior Maeva Razakasoa rallied to pull out 7-6 and 6-3 victories in the last two sets respectively.
"Yeah you'd like to put them away, but hey, we won half those third sets," said McInerney. "It was probably a good thing because we'll be in that spot again this season when we really need those wins."
The Sun Devils now get a week off before a tough road test against No. 5 Ohio State in Columbus next Sunday.
Reach the reporter at mfaye@asu.edu or follow @mattGfaye on Twitter.
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