Senior Jacqueline Cako sets both of her feet to prepare for a two-hand swing against Pepperdine on Feb. 23. Led by Cako in the No. 1 position the ASU tennis team swept Utah State on March 1 and Saint Mary's on March 2. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)The sun was definitely shining on the Sun Devils over the weekend.
The ASU tennis team claimed a pair of shutouts on couple of warm days.
The ASU women’s tennis team shutout an over-matched Utah State team (2-3) Friday and followed that win up with a second shutout against a scrappy Saint Mary’s (5-5) squad on a rather hot day.
“It hasn’t been in the 80’s all spring, it was the first day so I think that’s an advantage to us,” head coach Sheila McInerney said. “I was pleased with the way we played, and I think we competed well, too.”
The No. 21 Sun Devils (9-1) were dominant to say the least Friday afternoon winning all six singles matches in straight sets after winning two of the three doubles matches.
The only hiccup against the Aggies came in the form of a surprising loss from ASU’s No. 1 doubles pairing of seniors Nicole Smith and Jacqueline Cako.
Cako and Smith lost to Utah State sophomore McKenzie Davis and senior Jaci West 6-8 after being up 6-3 at one point.
Cako and Smith would turn things around Saturday defeating Saint Mary’s junior Jenny Jullien and sophomore Danielle Flores 8-2 as ASU swept all three doubles matches.
While Cako bested Jullien in doubles handily, things would not easy in singles match up where Jullien is ranked No. 18 in the country.
Cako won the first set 6-4 but lost momentum towards the end of the set. Jullien would take the second set convincingly 6-1 forcing Cako to reevaluate.
“I came out for the third set with a clean start, and I knew how I needed to play and get back to my normal game plan,” Cako said. “Pulling her to the sides and just making her have to cover a lot of court to get anywhere basically.”
The clean slate for Cako turned out to be a blank slate for Jullien.
Cako blanked Jullien in the final set 6-0, winning by a final tally of 6-4, 1-6, 6-0.
While Cako claimed a big win at her usual No. 1 position, sophomore Leighann Sahagun got back to winning form after moving down from No. 2 to No. 3, switching with freshman Desirae Krawczyk.
Sahagun won both of her matches over the weekend in straight sets: 6-1, 6-1 against Utah State and 6-2, 6-1 against Saint Mary’s.
“I felt more composed, (and) as weird as it sounds, confident,” Sahagun said. “I had a lot of good feelings coming in to the matches this weekend.”
The Sun Devils will get a day to recuperate on Sunday before going up against No. 22 Memphis on Monday, capping off their seven-game home stand.
The team’s dominance over the weekend should give ASU a good boost before facing their second top-25 opponent of the season. But they won’t dwell on it.
“Saint Mary’s is a very good team, and (when) you get a win certainly it helps you, but Monday is a totally different day. Memphis is very good.” McInerney said.
Reach the reporter at ejmith7@asu.edu
Results
Utah State
Doubles
1.)McKenzie Davis/Jaci West def. Nicole Smith/Cako: 8-6
2.)Joanna Smith/Ebony Panoho def. Julie Tukuafu/Kristina Voyteskhovich: 8-0
3.)Krawczyk/Sahagun def. Kallie Sperry/Hillary Hays: 8-4
Singles
1.)Cako def. Davis: 6-1, 6-0
2.)Krawczyk def. West: 6-2, 6-3
3.)Sahagun def. Voyteskhovich: 6-1, 6-1
4.)Stephanie Vlad def. Tukuafu: 6-1, 6-1
5.)Hannah James def. Sperry: 6-2, 7-5
6.)Joanna Smith def. Hays: 7-6 (4), 6-2
Saint Mary’s
Doubles
1.)Cako/N. Smith def. Jenny Jullien/ Danielle Flores: 8-2
2.)J. Smith/Panoho def. Katherine Isip/Elizabeth Searl: 8-5
3.)Krawczyk/Sahagun def. Audrey Leitz/Jade Frampton: 8-5
Singles
1.)Cako def. No. 24 Jenny Jullien: 6-4, 1-6, 6-0
2.)Krawczyk def. Isip: 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
3.)Sahagun def. Flores: 6-2, 6-1
4.)Vlad def. Frampton: 6-4, 7-5
5.)James def. Catherine Leduc: 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
6.)J. Smith def. Searl: 6-2, 6-2
