No. 19 ASU tennis extended its win streak to five games Saturday, rolling over San Diego State 7-0 at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
The Sun Devils returned home after three-straight road matches in the Pac-12 to being a stretch of three non-conference opponents against the Aztecs. ASU moved to 11-4 overall, staying idle in the Pac-12 at 4-1.
"Certainly it was a comfortable win, but nothing's going to be easy this time of year," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "San Diego State has a good program, they really gave us good test and that's what you want."
Despite what McInerney described as a bit of a slow start to doubles, ASU took the first point of the day as it has for much of the spring. Junior Kassidy Jump and freshman Sammi Hampton picked up a win on court number two to get things going. Seniors Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad secured the point with a victory on the second doubles court, giving the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.
In singles, Krawczyk was the first off the court with a straight set victory over San Diego State's top player Jana Buth. Hampton followed close behind, earning a win on court five before Vlad would clinch the team competition on court four. Vlad moved to 5-5 since returning from a foot injury on Feb 13, but says she's getting into a rhythm as of late.
"It's been up and down for me since I came back, which is always a little bit frustrating," she said. "But I feel like I've started to find my game recently; I'm playing with a bit more confidence so hopefully I can keep that going."
The Sun Devils did get some push back from San Diego State on courts two and three. Jump was forced into a third-set tie-breaker by Aztec senior Tammi Nguyen before grabbing the win. Senior Ebony Panoho ended the day with a tie-breaker of her own on court three, taking the first-to-ten, third set 10-8 to secure the sweep for the Sun Devils.
"It wasn't necessarily pretty, but we got it done," Jump said. "They made us work for it at the end there ... those tie-breakers you just have to work as hard as you can to get to ten (points)."
ASU will get the day off Sunday in preparation for a non-conference double-header on Monday at home. The Sun Devils will begin the day against Northern Arizona at 10:00 a.m. before battling Montana at 2:00 p.m.
Reach the reporter at mfaye@asu.edu or follow @mattGfaye on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
