March 11, 2006
Eugene, Ore. - The No. 21 Arizona State women's tennis team earned its first road win and conference win of the season, as they easily defeated the No. 24 Oregon Ducks, 6-1, on Saturday at the Student Tennis Center in Eugene. It was the second win in a row for the Sun Devils, who have defeated top 25 opponents in their last two matches, to improve to 8-4 on the year and 1-4 in the Pac-10.
The Sun Devils began the match positively, earning their seventh doubles point of the season, with wins in the first and second flights. The Sun Devils' number one duo of Kady Pooler (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Roxanne Clarke (Cape Town, South Africa), currently ranked No. 29 nationally by the ITA, had no trouble dispatching Oregon's Dominika Dieskova and Ceci Olivos in an 8-3 victory. Sabrina Capannolo (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Jessica Leitch (Dallas, Texas) wasted no time in clinching the doubles point with an 8-0 victory over Anna Leksinska and Claudia Hirt, who struggled from the get-go. ASU lost the final doubles match, 8-5, as Anna Powaska and Carmen Seremeta defeated Rebecca Rankin (Purley, England) and Laila Abdala (San Diego, Calif.).
With the early lead, the Sun Devils cruised to an easy victory, winning five of the six doubles matches. No. 98 Clarke put away Powaska in the second flight in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) to win for the seventh time in nine matches and in the number three spot, Pooler defeated Olivos (7-5, 6-2).
The Sun Devils swept the bottom half of the singles order for the second straight match, winning all three matches in straight sets. No. 121 Rebecca Rankin, in the fourth hole, defeated Oregon's Seremata (6-2, 6-3) to extend her team-long win streak to three matches. Leitch defeated Hoz de Villa (6-3, 7-5) and Abdala defeated Hirt (6-4, 6-4) to round out the lineup for the Sun Devils.
Oregon's lone match point came in the first flight where No. 43 Dieskova defeated No. 72 Capannolo, 6-4, 6-4.
The Sun Devils will return to action next weekend as they host the No. 67 Houston Cougars on March 18. The match begins at noon MST from the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe.