ASU women's tennis continued its dominance at home on Saturday as the team picked up a 6-0 sweep over San Jose State.
While it was the second straight home sweep for the 27th ranked Sun Devils, the lower courts did most of the heavy lifting. After taking the doubles point easily, ASU earned straight set victories on courts three through six to secure the win before either of its top two players could finish.
"I thought the doubles went well, then we did a great job getting off the court as quickly as we did three through six, which actually took the pressure off one and two," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "When you can get off the court early like that, it's always huge for the team."
Freshman Sammi Hampton was the first to wrap up on court number five, cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 win over San Jose States' Miyo Kobayashi. Senior Ebony Panoho wasn't far behind as she picked up a 6-2, 6-2 on the third court.
Senior Stephanie Vlad collected her second victory at number four since returning from injury last week while junior Gussie O'Sullivan rounded out the top six with a win as well.
O'Sullivan, who has yet to drop a singles match this season, said the lower courts are a confident group right now.
"Certainly winning gives you a lot of confidence, no doubt," she said. "Me and Sammi have been holding up the back end well; I think we all know our roles on the team."
Although the lower courts cruised through the match, the top two spots for ASU were a different story. Senior Desirae Krawczyk got all she could handle from the Spartans' top player Sybille Gauvain, grinding out the win in a ten-point tiebreaker 10-2.
Krawczyk has gone 2-2 in her last four matches, splitting each of her two, ten-point tie breakers along the way.
"I just have to keep the momentum going from this," said Krawczyk. "If I get down in a match I just have to keep going for it, make sure I stay confident and hopefully play well."
On the second court, junior Kassidy Jump had to battle as well. Jump dropped the first set with San Jose State junior Marie Klocker before forcing a third and final set, but the match was called after the Sun Devils secured the deciding point in the team competition. McInerney said the decision was a precautionary one.
"No sense in playing a dead match when we have another one tomorrow, to be honest with you," she said.
The Sun Devils will look to stay undefeated at home in a quick turnaround against Long Beach State Sunday. First serve is at 11:00 a.m.
Reach the reporter at mfaye@asu.edu or follow @mattGfaye on Twitter.
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