Junior Desirae Krawczyk returns the ball to San Jose State during a singles match against San Jose State Friday, March 20, 2015 at Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, AZ. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)The No. 19 Sun Devils (11-3, 2-0) came away with a 7-0 sweep Friday over visiting No. 53 San Jose State.
Head coach Sheila McInerney said she was happy with the way her team bounced back after losing yesterday in a hard fought match against No. 16 Pepperdine.
“I was happy to come out here and get the win today,” she said. “I give our kids credit for coming back after a tough loss yesterday.”
The team managed to pull away from its opponent during the doubles session of the match, winning a third and decisive match after splitting the first two between the sides.
“I think the doubles could’ve gone either way,” McInerney said. “It was tight.”
Seniors Joanna Smith and Leighann Sahagun defeated San Jose State senior Julianna Baclear and freshman Abbie Pahz in a tightly contested 7-5 match to claim the doubles point for ASU.
The match marked Sahagun’s first appearance in a doubles match this dual-match season after playing in her first game of the year Thursday.
“I was nervous,” she said. “Everybody’s got their partners and has that chemistry, but I don’t think I have that chemistry yet.”
The Sun Devils would go on to finish off the Spartans in the singles half of the match, pulling away early on.
During the singles, the team clinched the win early with three victories from junior Desirae Krawczyk, Smith and Sahagun that gave the team a 4-0 lead.
Juniors Ebony Panoho and Stephanie Vlad would follow to extend the lead to 6-0, with sophomore Gussie O’Sullivan as the lone Sun Devil remaining on the court.
O’Sullivan would duel with Spartans senior Jessica Willet, winning the first set 6-3, then dropping the second 4-6, before winning a tiebreak set that ended 19-17.
The sweep is the team’s seventh in the last 10 games.
The team was also without sophomore Kassidy Jump, who is normally slotted in the No. 3 singles role and plays with the No. 2
“Playing without her, I think shows a lot of resiliency,” McInerney said. “This one is going to help us going on the raod.”
The team will travel to Pullman tomorrow before taking on Washington State on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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