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Panoho shines, but ASU tennis drops third straight to Cal

Freshman Ebony Panoho chases after a ball during ASU's home meet vs. UCLA. The Sun Devils dropped both weekend games at home to Cal and Stanford. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)
Freshman Ebony Panoho chases after a ball during ASU's home meet vs. UCLA. The Sun Devils dropped both weekend games at home to Cal and Stanford. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)

Freshman Ebony Panoho chases after a ball during ASU's home meet vs. UCLA. The Sun Devils dropped both weekend games at home to Cal and Stanford. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman) Freshman Ebony Panoho chases after a ball during ASU's home meet vs. UCLA. The Sun Devils dropped both weekend games at home to Cal and Stanford. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)

It was another rough outing at Whiteman Tennis Center.

The No. 21 ASU tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 11 Cal and now finds itself in the midst of a three-match losing skid.

“I’m certainly disappointed that we didn’t play better,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “I think we certainly could’ve put up a better fight, particularly at home.”

The Golden Bears (13-5, 7-1 Pac-12) were in control right from the start capturing two of the three doubles matches to win the doubles point.

ASU’s lone doubles victory came from the 34th ranked pairing of Nicole Smith and Jacqueline Cako over Cal freshman Lynn Chi and junior Anett Schutting 7-6(5) in a tiebreak.

Schutting and Cako would meet again in singles at the No. 1 spot. Schutting, ranked No. 10 in the country, is No. 16 Cako’s third consecutive top-10 opponent.

In her last outing, Cako upset No. 3 sophomore Robin Anderson of UCLA in straight sets. She wouldn’t pull off another one against Schutting.

Schutting handled Cako 6-2, 6-1 in what was not one of Cako’s better matches.

“Jacq just had a bad day; there’s just no two ways about that. She couldn’t get a ball in the court and sometimes that happens,” McInerney said.

It didn’t help that Schutting was totally dialed in. Even when Cako made good shots it wasn’t enough. Several times Cako would hit a good shot, but Schutting just returned with better ones.

The same story played itself out on the court next to Cako.

Freshman Desirae Krawczyk lost her singles match 2-6, 4-6 but did not play in doubles. Krawczyk was in a walking boot and crutches with an injured right foot earlier in the week.

Despite the injury, Krawczyk said her foot, which was encase in ice after her match, was “back to 100 percent.”

Krawczyk also confirmed that she would play with regular doubles partner sophomore Leighann Sahagun tomorrow.

Sahagun had a solid showing, although also a loss, to No. 5 ranked sophomore Zsofi Susanyi.

Sahagun nearly took the first set from Susanyi, a semifinalist in the NCAA singles championship last year, but came up a bit short falling in a tiebreak 6-7(1). Susanyi took the final set 6-3 to seal her win over Sahagun.

McInerney liked what she saw from Sahagun on Friday even in a loss.

“I think she’s really maximizing. I think for her now it’s just if she can get over that hump and get a good win over these (top) kids,” McInerney said. “She’s definitely coming into her own.”

The lone bright spot for the Sun Devils (15-4, 9-3 Pac-12) in singles came from freshman Ebony Panoho, a winner of six of her last eight matches.

Panoho defeated Cal senior Annie Goransson 6-3, 6-3, relying on her heavy forehand and a new wrinkle she’s added to her game, her serve.

“If I can hit big serves it gives me a lot more opportunities to get forehands, so that’s something I’ve really been looking to use,” Panoho said.

 

Results

 

Doubles

1.) Cako/N. Smith def. Chi/Schutting: 7-6(5)

2.) Klara Fabikova/Susanyi def. J. Smth/Panoho: 8-4

3.) Tayler Davis/Gorannson def. Sahagun/Hannah James: 8-5

 

Singles

1.) Schutting def. Cako: 6-2, 6-1

2.) Fabikova def. Krawczyk: 6-2, 6-4

3.) Susanyi def. Sahagun: 7-6(1)-6-3

4.) Chi def. James: 6-0, 6-1

5.) Davis def. J. Smith: 7-6, 2-6, (10-3)

6.) Panoho def. Gorannson: 6-3, 6-3

Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EricSmith_SP


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