Junior Desirae Krawczyk and junior Stephanie Vlad anticipate the return during a doubles match against Penn on March 9, 2015, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe. Krawczyk and Vlad would go on to win this match against the Quakers. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)The No. 33 ASU tennis team (7-2) extended its winning streak to five games Monday, defeating Penn 7-0.
The win gives the team its third sweep over an opponent during its string of wins.
“We're just trying to keep playing well," junior Desirae Krawczyk said. "We want to build off of today and carry it into our next match, so it's good for us to earn this result when we're about to head on the road."
The team once again rolled through the doubles session of the match.
The No. 1 pairing of Krawczyk and junior Stephanie Vlad along with the No. 3 pairing of junior Ebony Panoho and sophomore Alex Osborne earned wins during the doubles to claim the point.
The team is still perfect during the doubles session of matches, having claimed nine of nine possible points from doubles.
The Sun Devils then imposed their dominant form through the singles half of the match.
All six players won their matches, which now gives the team 28 singles wins out of 30 possible over the course of their five-match win streak.
However, even though it was a clean sweep, it wasn’t entirely clean. During her match against Penn sophomore Kana Daniel, Vlad had her game interrupted when Penn head coach Sanela Kunovac disputed a call with the umpire.
Kunovac made a remark saying Vlad’s shot was well off, but the ruling was upheld. Vlad said she felt it only fueled her to go on and win what was a very thrilling match that ended with her winning a tiebreaker in the second set.
Junior Stephanie Vlad reaches for the backhand return against Penn on March 9, 2015, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)“It was a tad frustrating," Vlad said. "In the long run it was beneficial because it was an obstacle I had to deal with. It was a test of my patience, but I think I did well in handling the situation."
The Sun Devils would go on to win the match in straight sets.
Head coach Sheila McInerney said that her entire team battled well against a Penn squad that put up a tougher fight than probably expected.
"You just gotta be tough," she said. "I think especially against good teams and against good players. You have to be tough and expect good games against tough matchups."
Riding a five-match winning streak, the team now turns its attention to tomorrow’s match against Marquette.
“I believe we're on a high right now," Vlad said. "I think everybody's feeling really confident. I think we're going to go into Pac-12 play feeling very confident about ourselves."
McInerney noted that the team's recent home front has helped propel its success over the last few matches.
"I think we've always played well at home," she said. "We really take pride in playing here."
The Sun Devils will take on the Golden Eagles tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe.
Today’s results:
Singles
1. Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) def. Agustina Sol Eskenazi (Penn), 6-2, 6-2
2. Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Kana Daniel (Penn), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
3. Kassidy Jump (ASU) def. Sonya Latycheva (Penn), 7-6 (5), 6-2
4. Joanna Smith (ASU) def. Lina Qostal (Penn), 6-4, 6-2
5. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) def. Ria Vaidya (Penn), 2-6, 6-2, 10-7
6. Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Alexandra Ion (Penn), 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2
Doubles
1. Krawczyk/Vlad (ASU) def. Eskenazi/Latycheva (Penn), 6-2
2. Jump/Smith (ASU) vs Daniel/Ion (Penn), DNF (abandoned)
3. Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Qostal/Vaidya (Penn), 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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