March 4, 2006
Berkeley, Calif. - The No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils fell to the No. 8 Cal Golden Bears, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Center in Berkeley. The Sun Devils fell to 6-4 on the season and 0-4 in conference play while the Bears stayed undefeated in the Pac-10 at 4-0 (10-3 overall). It was the fourth straight loss for the Devils, who completed a difficult stretch of the schedule against four teams ranked in the top 12.
The Bears got the match off to a strong start after grabbing the doubles point and upsetting 22nd-ranked Kady Pooler (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Roxanne Clarke (Cape Town, South Africa). Suzi Fodor and Suzi Babos, who are currently ranked No. 35 in doubles play, defeated No. 22 Pooler and Clarke, 8-1, playing in the No. 1 spot. Also tallying a victory for Cal was Stephanie Kusano and Bojana Bobusic, who outlasted Rebecca Rankin (Purley, England) and Laila Abdala (San Diego, Calif.), 8-5, playing No. 3 doubles. The Bears dropped one match to the Sun Devils, after Claire Ilcinkas and Marion Ravelojaona fell to Sabrina Capannolo (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Jessica Leitch (Dallas, Texas), 8-3, in the No. 2 spot.
In singles play, Cal posted victories on five courts. Third-ranked Fodor defeated No. 65 Capannolo, 6-2, 6-2, playing in the No. 1 position. Twenty-fifth-ranked Babos dropped a set to No. 93 Pooler, but came out victorious, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in the No. 2 singles position. Cristina Visico, ranked 70th, defeated Clarke in the No. 3 spot, 6-3, 7-6. Ilcinkas, a freshman from Paris, France, outlasted Wendy Pilecka, 6-0, 6-2, playing No. 4 singles. Fellow freshman Bojana Bobusic also tallied a win for the Bears, defeating Laila Abdala, 6-2, 7-6, in the No. 6 position. ASU recorded one singles victory for the day when No. 50 Rebecca Rankin outlasted Jessica Shu, 6-3, 7-6, playing in the No. 5 spot.
The Sun Devils return home on Tuesday for a non-conference match against No. 22 Wake Forest and look to stop their current slide. The match begins at 1:30 p.m. MST at the Whiteman Center in Tempe.