The atmosphere on the tennis courts was tense, and at one point bloody, as the No. 15 ASU women’s tennis team beat No. 13 USC on Friday and fell to No. 8 UCLA on Saturday at home.
The Sun Devils (14-6, 4-3 Pac-10) took a 6-1 victory over USC that started by winning the doubles point and breaking a Sun Devil’s nose.
ASU junior Michelle Brycki accidentally broke teammate Jacqueline Cako’s nose when she hit her with a racquet during doubles play. They were forced to retire and dropped the match 6-3 to the USC tandem of Alison Ramos and Cristala Andrews.
It was the Trojans only doubles victory.
USC (13-6, 3-3 Pac-10) defaulted in the No. 3 position, and the duo of seniors Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna took an 8-2 win over the USC tandem of Maria Sanchez and Danielle Lao in the No. 1 position.
“Micaela and Kelcy played great in the doubles,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “It really helped us and overall we competed really great. We won five out of six singles matches.”
The team’s upset wasn’t the only one of its kind on the day.
No. 19 McKenna played a tough match against No. 1 Sanchez, and took the match to three sets. She won the first set 6-4, fell 6-2 in the second set, and battled back to win the final set 6-4 to top the nation’s highest ranked player.
“I wanted to stay on the court as long as possible to give someone else a chance to win,” McKenna said. “The support of my team helped me at the end of the match.”
Hein beat Ramos (6-3, 6-2) and Ashlee Brown beat Lyndsay Kinstler (6-4, 6-1) for two of the Sun Devil’s points.
ASU sophomore Hannah James took her match to three sets. She won her first set 6-2, fell 6-1 in her second set, and won 6-3 in the third. Brycki also fell in the first set (6-3) and battled back to win the next two sets 6-0, 6-3.
Cako passed out during her singles match due to her earlier nose injury and was forced to retire early. Cako suffered a slight concussion, but is expected to recover before the Pac-10 Championships begin.
Rain delayed play against UCLA (16-5, 6-1 Pac-10) on Saturday, and the teams started with singles play due to the shortened time frame. The end result was a 4-2 UCLA victory over ASU.
McKenna and Hein ended their senior season by earning singles victories. McKenna beat McCall Jones (6-2, 5-7, 6-2) and Hein defeated Noelle Hickey (6-3, 7-5).
The Sun Devils were scheduled to play UA on April 16, but UA forfeited the match because their athletes had reached their participation limit on the season, and ASU will automatically get a win and the Territorial Cup point.
The Sun Devils now have three weeks to prepare for the Pac-10 Championships.
Reach the reporter at nicole.klauss@asu.edu
