The women's tennis team captured a 4-3 victory at California last Friday, marking the first time in head coach Sheila McInerney's 18-year career that ASU has won at the Hellman Tennis Center in Berkeley.
The ninth-ranked Sun Devils (13-6, 3-3 Pac-10) swept the 15th-ranked Golden Bears (12-7, 2-3) in doubles. ASU was led on the first court by junior Adria Engel and sophomore Dora Krstulovic, who defeated sophomores Raquel Kops-Jones and Jody Scheldt, 8-5. Sun Devil junior Mhairi Brown and sophomore Cindy Sureephong also came up victorious on the second court over junior Christina Fusano and sophomore Jieun Jacobs, 8-6.
"We played well against Cal," McInerney said. "Traditionally, that has been a match for us that has always been close. It was good to finally get the win there."
After grabbing the doubles point, ASU slightly faltered, but stole three singles matches for the victory. Engel won a hard-fought match on the first court against sophomore Catherine Lynch, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Krstulovic then beat Kops-Jones in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.
Tied at 3-3 heading into the final match, ASU freshman Joslynn Burkett sealed the deal by pulling in the fourth point with a win on the No. 6 court. She edged out California sophomore Nicole Havlicek, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The Sun Devils traveled to the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday, but didn't find the same results against third-ranked Stanford (19-1, 7-0). They struggled mightily, dropping all six singles matches, ;osing 7-0.
"Stanford is one of the top teams in the country, which guarantees them to be a tough team to play," McInerney said. "But I didn't think we played as competitive against them in singles as we could have."
ASU's lone victory came on the second doubles court when Brown and Sureephong celebrated an 8-4 win over sophomore Lauren Barnikow and freshman Erin Burdette, who were ranked 14th nationally. Krstulovic's eight-game winning streak came to an end with a loss on the second singles court to No. 18 Stanford senior Gabriela Lastra, 6-2, 7-5.
"Dora had some chances in the second set. If she would have won that one, she would have gone on to win the match," McInerney said. "It was close, so it definitely was a tough loss for her."
ASU will travel to the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson on Saturday for the season finale against 21st-ranked UA (10-9, 3-3). The Sun Devils downed the Wildcats 6-1 when the teams last met at the Whiteman Tennis Center in late February. ASU has an impressive 6-2 road record in its 2002 campaign.
Reach the reporter at amanda.bissette@asu.edu.
