April 8, 2006
Seattle, Wash. - Despite rain clouds that obscured the sun and forced the match to move under the cover of the Nordstrom Tennis Center, the No. 16 Arizona State women's tennis team was dominant in a 7-0 win over the Washington Huskies, its second consecutive sweep and Pac-10 road win. The Sun Devils (12-6, 3-2) did not yield a single match, winning the combined nine flights in doubles and singles competition, marking the fourth time that happened this season. It was also the seventh 7-0 sweep of the season for the Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils took quick control of doubles play, gaining early leads at second and third doubles. Jessica Leitch (Dallas, Texas) and Sabrina Capannolo (Las Vegas, Nev.) won seven straight games after trailing UW's Tara Simpson and Stephanie Svanfeldt, 1-2, to end up winning 8-2 in the two spot. At No. 3, Rebecca Rankin (Purley, England) and Wendy Pilecka (Pribram, Czech Republic) rolled to an 8-2 win over Allison Rainey and Melinda Wong. At the top singles spot, UW's Dinka Hadzic and Victoria Brymer hung close with the 43rd-ranked team of Kady Pooler (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Roxanne Clarke (Cape Town, South Africa), but the Sun Devils pulled away late for an 8-4 win as the duo returned to its winning ways.
The Sun Devils had a few challenges in the singles competition, but still managed to come away with victories in all six flights. In the first flight, No. 116 Capannolo faced Hadzic, and despite dropping the first set 4-6, battled from behind to win the second set 6-1 before taking the match with an 11-9 score in a super-tiebreaker third set. In the fifth spot, Leitch also needed a super tiebreaker to finish off her opponent, UW's Wong. After winning the first set 6-4, Leitch dropped a close second set, 5-7, before rallying to win the super tiebreaker 10-6. The other four Sun Devil singles competitors won their matches in straight sets. No. 59 Clarke defeated Brymer in the second spot (7-5, 6-2) and Pooler defeated Simpson in the third spot (6-1, 6-2). Rankin was victorious against Svanfeldt in the four hole, with a 7-5, 6-0 win. Freshman Laila Abdala (San Diego, Calif.) extended her team-long win streak to three matches with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Rainey in the sixth flight.
The Sun Devils return home next weekend for their final two home matches of the season, when they host the No. 10 California Golden Bears on Friday and the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal on Saturday at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe.