Junior Desirae Krawczyk returns a serve at the start of her first match against Saint Mary’s senior Danielle Flores on March 7, 2015, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe. (Kaitlyn Ahrbeck/The State Press)The No. 33 Sun Devils (6-2) extended their winning streak to four games with a 6-1 win over the No. 51 St. Mary's Gaels Saturday.
Head coach Sheila McInerney had said earlier in the week that she wanted her team to really compete with what was arguably the best opponent it had faced since its match with Ohio State a few weeks ago.
The team answered its leader's call, coming just short of notching its third straight sweep of an opponent after posting an emphatic 6-1 scoreline.
"I think we’re getting really confident," junior Stephanie Vlad said. "We knew coming into today that St. Mary’s wasn’t gonna be an easy match and I think we’re leaving the facility today feeling good about ourselves because we handled them pretty well."
The team once again rolled through the doubles portion of the match.
Vlad and junior Desirae Krawczyk defeated St. Mary's senior Danielle Flores and sophomore Parminder Kaur 6-2, while junior Ebony Panoho and sophomore Alex Osborne defeated junior Jamie Pawid and freshman Kareena Manji 6-1 to claim the point for ASU.
The Sun Devils remain perfect during the doubles session of games, having now claimed eight of eight possible points during the dual-match year.
The team continued its dominant play in the singles half of the match, during which five of six players won today.
Over the course of the four-game winning streak, the team has only lost two singles matches out of 24 singles matches played.
"I think that it was a big day for us," sophomore Kassidy Jump said. "It was important for us to come away with a strong showing and be aggressive. I definitely think we did that, and I think that will help us in our next matches coming up, too."
McInerney was very proud of her squad's performance against a formidable opponent and said this is the kind of start that she wanted her team to get off to entering such a busy part of the season.
"I was very happy with the way we came out and took care of business," McInerney said. "It didn’t have to come down to being a nail-biter. Today’s competition was certainly more difficult than our last three matches, I would say. So I think winning convincingly today says a lot. That’s a good sign."
The team's next match will be played against Pennsylvania on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe, followed by a match against Marquette on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe, as well.
Today's results:
Singles
1. Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) def. Danielle Flores (SM), 3-6, 6-4,
2. Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Jana McCord (SM), 6-2, 6-1
3. Kassidy Jump (ASU) def. Catherine Le (SM), 6-0, 7-5
4. Joanna Smith (ASU) def. Jamie Pawid (SM), 6-4, 6-0
5. Kareena Manji (SM) def. Ebony Panoho (ASU), 6-3, 6-4
6. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) def. Emma Crister (SM), 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 2, 6, 4, 3, 5, 1
Doubles
1. Krawczyk/Vlad (ASU) def. McCord/Kaur (SM), 6-2
2. Flores/Jessup (SM) vs. Smith/Jump (ASU), 2-5 DNF
3. Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Manji/Pawid (SM), 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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