ASU tennis' season ended Sunday afternoon after losing 4-3 to No. 12 Oklahoma State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Sun Devils (16-8) have now not advanced past the second round since 2004, though the team was not favored in the rankings in any of the second round games since.
ASU, which defeated Arkansas 4-1 on Saturday to move on from the first round, started out the match strong, earning the doubles point. ASU's top pair of juniors Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad upset Oklahoma State's No. 12-ranked duo in Viktoriya Lushkova Kelsey Laurente 8-6 to give ASU the point.
Oklahoma State began singles play fast with Vladica Babic and Laurente each earning quick two-set wins. OSU's Maria Alvarez put away ASU sophomore Gussie O'Sullivan 6-2, 7-5, which meant the Cowgirls needed just one more singles victory to move on.
However, ASU had other plans as Vlad and junior Ebony Panoho each won their matches, setting up the winner-take-all last point. Krawczyk took the first set from No. 17 Lushkova 6-4, but couldn't pull off the upset. Lushkova won the second set 6-2 and the third 7-5.
Cowgirls win 4-3!!! pic.twitter.com/OUDjbPZoe9
— OSU Women's Tennis (@CowgirlTennis) May 10, 2015
Oklahoma State moves on to face fifth-seeded Florida in the Sweet 16 on May 15 in Waco, Texas. Only one non-seeded team advanced to the Sweet 16.
From the Pac-12, top-seed USC, third-seed California, seventh-seed UCLA and 14th-seed Stanford all moved on.
Results:
Doubles | Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
1: No. 26 Krawczyk/Vlad (ASU) def. No. 12 Lushkova/Laurente (OSU), 8-6
2: Adamovic/Babic (OSU) def. No. 49 Jump/Smith, 8-3
3: Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Alvarez/Tur Mari (OSU), 8-1
Singles | Order of finish: 4, 3, 6, 2, 5, 1
1: No. 17 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) def. Desirae Krawczyk (ASU), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
2: Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Katarina Adamovic (OSU), 6-2, 7-5
3: Kelsey Laurente (OSU) def. Kassidy Jump (ASU), 6-3, 6-1
4: No. 99 Vladica Babic (OSU) def. Joanna Smith (ASU), 6-1, 6-0
5: Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Carla Tur Mari (OSU), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)
6: Maria Alvarez (OSU) def. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU), 6-2, 7-5
Reach the reporter at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter
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