March 31, 2006
Los Angeles, Calif. - The No. 13 Arizona State Sun Devils had their winning streak snapped at four, falling to the No. 16 UCLA Bruins for the second time this season on Friday. Playing in a Pac-10 conference match on the road, the Sun Devils (10-5) lost by a score of 6-1.
The Sun Devils lost the doubles point for their second straight match. UCLA's combo of Laura Gordon and Riza Zalameda, ranked No. 34, downed the No. 31 pair of Roxanne Clarke (Cape Town, South Africa) and Kady Pooler (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), 8-5. The Bruins clinched the doubles win with a 8-1 victory by Ashley Joelson and Tracy Lin over ASU's Laila Abdala (San Diego, Calif.) and Wendy Pilecka (Pribram, Czech Republic). The Sun Devils did manage to pick up a doubles win in the number two spot, as Sabrina Capannolo (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Jessica Leitch (Dallas, Texas) defeated Anna-Viktoria Lind and Elizabeth Lumpkin, 8-4.
However, the Sun Devils were unable to pick up ground in the singles competition, coming away with only one of six points. In the second flight, Roxanne Clarke was victorious again, as the No. 84 ranked singles player won in straight sets over No. 9 Rita Zalameda, 6-3, 6-2. The Sun Devils lost the other five spots as No. 116 Capannolo fell to UCLA's Gordon, ranked No. 17 overall, in the first flight (7-5, 6-2) and No. 38 Lin defeated Pooler in the third flight, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. No. 111 Joelson defeated Rebecca Rankin (Purley, England) in the fourth spot, 6-4, 6-1, and Leitch fell in the fifth spot to Lumpkin, 6-1, 6-2. In the sixth flight, Laila Abdala fell to Lind, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
The Sun Devils are now 1-1 in the Pac-10 Conference standings and will complete their road trip with a match on Saturday against USC.