Sophomore Desirae Krawzcyk swings at the ball at the Thunderbird Invitational. Sophomores Ebony Panoho and Desirae Krawczyk defeated the Bears’ No. 23 Klara Fabikova and No. 44 Lynn Chi, 8-2. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)Throughout the second day of the Thunderbird Invitational, the ASU women’s tennis team tried to play spoiler to the California Golden Bears.
The mission started out well. After dropping two doubles matches, the Sun Devils pairing of sophomores Ebony Panoho and Desirae Krawczyk defeated the Bears’ No. 23 Klara Fabikova and No. 44 Lynn Chi, 8-2.
Panoho hadn’t practiced much the week prior because of her hamstring, but when she got the OK, she knew she would be playing with Krawczyk.
“I knew that if I was going to be playing, I would be playing with Des,” Panoho said. “I think we played really well together.”
This was one of Panoho’s first tastes of top competition and she didn’t disappoint.
“I didn’t play too many ranked players last season,” Panoho said. “It’s a good indicator that anybody is beatable.”
The Sun Devils are now 3-3 in doubles matches in the tournament. Coach Sheila McInerney said she is glad to see improvement in doubles play since the Michigan Invitational, but more work is needed before the spring season.
“I was pretty pleased with the doubles,” McInerney said. “You’re always trying to get better … and it certainly could be.”
McInerney subbed Panoho in for junior Leighann Sahagun to give Sahagun some rest and let Panoho see her only action of the weekend. McInerney liked what she saw from the sophomores.
“Eb(ony)’s a good doubles player,” McInerney said. “The two of them (Panoho and Krawczyk) have pretty big firepower.”
Sophomore Stephanie Vlad and junior Leighann Sahagun were the only Sun Devils still alive entering today. Vlad advanced after Cal sophomore Lynn Chi retired due to heat exhaustion, but Sahagun fell in two sets to Cal sophomore Klara Sabikova.
As the lone remaining Sun Devil, Vlad had to beat Cal freshman Denise Starr. McInerney raved about Starr after she beat Vlad in a back-and-forth match.
Vlad said she was happy with the way she has played thus far, making it to the semifinals.
“I competed really well,” Vlad said. “I felt like it could have gone my way, so I’m pretty happy even though I lost.”
Vlad was expecting close matches, and that exactly what she got. Her first match was 2-1 in the first set when Chi retired and no more than three points separated Vlad and Starr in each of their games.
“I was expecting a close match no matter what,” Vlad said. “I was just mentally prepared for that.”
In the first two days of the tournament, Vlad has played three matches against Golden Bears. She said beating conference opponents has increased her confidence.
“This was a really good preparation for the (Pac-12) season,” Vlad said. “It’s really encouraging to know that I’m right up there with (Cal).”
Starr will play fellow freshman and teammate Maegan Manasse for the Thunderbird Invitational championship tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., while Vlad will play sophomore Klara Fabikova for third place.
Doubles
Krawczyk/Panoho (ASU) def. Fabikova/Chi (Cal) 8-2
Starr/Chui (Cal) def. O’Sullivan/Vlad (ASU) 8-4
Ucros/Zhu (Michigan) def. Smith/Jump (ASU) 8-4
Singles
Vlad (ASU) def. Chi (Cal) 2-1 (retired)
Fabikova (Cal) def. Sahagun (ASU) 6-4, 6-3
Anderson (BYU) def. Smith (ASU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
O’Sullivan (ASU) def. Juhasz (KSU) 6-3, 6-4
Krawczyk (ASU) def. Shehan-Dizon (BYU)
Jump (ASU) def. Wierda (Michigan) 6-3, 6-1
Starr (Cal) def. Vlad (ASU) 6-3, 6-3
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EWeebs.
