The ASU women’s tennis team earned another Pac-10 victory on the road against Washington on Friday to extend its streak to five straight wins.
Due to weather conditions, the Sun Devils were forced to play their match indoors.
No. 16 ASU (13-3, 3-0 Pac-10) took the first point of the day after sweeping the doubles matches against the Huskies (10-8, 1-4 Pac-10).
The No. 30-ranked tandem of seniors Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna upset the No. 10 duo of Venise Chan and Denise Dy (8-5).
“We came out and played well in doubles,” coach Sheila McInerney said.
ASU senior Ashlee Brown and junior Sianna Simmons easily defeated the UW tandem of Vanja Radunovic and Kelli Feeley, 8-0.
ASU junior Michelle Brycki and freshman Jacqueline Cako paired up and won six straight games after being tied 2-2. The duo beat UW Samantha Smith and Aleksandra Krsljanin, 8-2.
Brown was the first Sun Devil to finish in singles play after she defeated Feeley (6-2, 6-0) in the sixth spot.
In the No. 5 position, Brycki defeated Radunovic (6-3, 7-5).
ASU sophomore Hannah James contributed to the Sun Devils’ win with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Krsljanin in the No. 4 position.
James was recovering from an illness, which made her match tough to get through.
“It was horrible, but someone said to me that I have to look at the team and forget about my pain,” James said. “My balance was off because of the pain in my ears, but I was extremely happy with the win.”
McKenna fell to Dy (6-2, 6-2) in the No. 1 position, while Hein took a victory over Smith (6-3, 6-1) in the No. 3 position.
Cako’s 18-match winning streak came to an end when she fell to No. 23 Chan in singles. Cako lost the first set 9-7, but rallied back in the second to take a 6-3 win. She fell in the match breaker, 10-7.
“Jacqueline (Cako) actually played a pretty good match,” McInerney said. “It was unfortunate for her that she lost the match breaker. Chan is a very good player, a former All-American.”
McInerney was impressed with the energy ASU brought on the road and is preparing for the next away match.
“Our kids felt good with the win and are now getting ready for a tough task, to play Friday against Stanford,” McInerney said.
The No. 16 Sun Devils have two more away matches left in the dual season, the first at No. 1 Stanford and the second at No. 6 California.
Reach the reporter at nicole.klauss@asu.edu
