The ASU women’s tennis team learned just how difficult Pac-10 wins on the road can be.
The No. 13 Sun Devils suffered two losses to top-10 teams, falling to No. 1 Stanford on Friday and No. 10 California on Saturday.
Friday’s match ended with Stanford (18-0, 5-0 Pac-10) taking a 6-1 victory, then the match against Cal was closer, with the Sun Devils losing 4-3.
“Both these teams are very good,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “You have to be able to finish, so we have to be a little tougher than we were.”
ASU (13-5, 3-2 Pac-10) took an early lead against Stanford by winning the doubles point with two out of three victories, but Stanford dominated the singles, winning all six matches.
The tandem of Jacqueline Cako and Michelle Brycki defeated the No. 30 Stanford duo of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs (8-5) in the No. 2 position, while Ashlee Brown and Sianna Simmons paired up and took an 8-6 victory over the Stanford tandem of Veronica Li and Stacey Tan in the No. 3 position.
The Sun Devils got off to a rocky start in the match against Cal and their doubles play wasn’t up to par, McInerney said.
“We did not play well in doubles at all,” McInerney said. “We didn’t come out with a lot of confidence or energy, and in the long run doubles is what hurt us.”
The tandem of Brown and Simmons was the only doubles team to take a victory. They defeated the duo of Tayler Davis and Alice Duranteau (8-3) in the No. 3 position.
Three Sun Devils earned singles victories against the Golden Bears (14-5, 5-1 Pac-10) after taking their matches to three sets.
No. 11 Cako defeated No. 18 Mari Andersson in the No. 2 position after losing the first set, 2-6, before rebounding to win 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Hein defeated Anett Schutting in the No. 3 position. She fell 6-3 in the first set, and won the next two sets (6-2, 6-3).
Brycki beat Marina Cossou in the No. 5 spot. She also fell in the first set, but rallied back to win 7-6 (8) in the second set, and won 7-5 in the third set.
“We’ve played tough matches before and rebounded pretty well,” Brycki said. “We’ve just got to build a bridge and get over it.”
The Sun Devils’ schedule won’t get any easier when they return home to face No. 14 USC on Friday and No. 6 UCLA on Saturday.
Reach the reporter at nicole.klauss@asu.edu
