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No. 18 Women's Tennis Rebounds to Upset No. 7 UCLA 4-3

No. 18 Women's Tennis Rebounds to Upset No. 7 UCLA 4-3No. 18 Women's Tennis Rebounds to Upset No. 7 UCLA 4-3

Feb. 24, 2008

, - Sunday afternoon saw the No. 18 ASU Women's Tennis Team rally back from a 3-1 deficit to upset the seventh-ranked UCLA Bruins 4-3 in at the . With the win, the Sun Devils improve to 7-1 on the season as the Bruins drop to 8-2 overall.

The tone of the match was set early, with both teams fighting hard in doubles with leads going back and forth on all three courts. Junior Laila Abdala and sophomore Nadia Abdala put ASU ahead with their win at the No. 1 spot with their 8-6 win over UCLA's Riza Zalameida and Tracy Lin. The doubles point was sealed when freshmen Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein extended their unbeaten dual match streak to defeat Ashley Joelson and Andrea Remynse 8-6 at No. 3. At No. 2, seniors Wendy Pilecka and Jessica Leitch capitalized on the energy from the doubles point win to knock-off Elizabeth Lumpkin and Stephanie Wetmore 8-6 as well.

In singles, the Bruins came out firing, breaking out to early leads in five of the six matches. They quickly took the lead in the match after Micaela Hein fell to Joelson at No. 4 and Laila Abdala was defeated by Remynse at No. 3. UCLA extended their match lead to 3-1 when Lumpkin closed out a tough second set to beat Jessica Leitch 6-1 7-5 at the No. 5 spot.

 

Ashlee Brown kept the Devils alive with her defeat of Ana Victoria Lind 3-6 6-2 6-1 at No. 6. Afterwards, the focus was then turned to the top two courts with to UCLA only needing one win to clinch the match. Having lost tough three setters the day before, both Kelcy McKenna and Nadia Abdala found themselves in a similar position, and were determined to reverse the results from the previous day. At No. 1, after going down 1-0, Abdala reeled off six straight games to secure the win and even the overall match score at 3-3. The freshman McKenna also came up big for ASU by overcoming a 3-0 deficit and impressively winning six straight games to clinch the upset for the Sun Devils.

"We were really proud of the way the girls competed today after a tough and long match yesterday," head coach Sheila McInerney said after defeating the Bruins. "It was a great showcase of the true character and resilience of this team."

"The girls responded very well after yesterday's loss, especially at No. 1 and 2," assistant coach Josh Goffi added. "Today Kelcy and Nadia made the appropriate adjustment after yesterday's letdown when they let their opponents back into their matches. I am proud of them for shutting the door on a very good team. This is an important step in our process of becoming a great team."

ASU hits the courts again next weekend as they take on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in at the on Sunday, March 2, 2008. Match time is 11 a.m.

 

Doubles

  1. N. Abdala & L. Abdala (ASU) def. R. Zalameida & T. Lin (UCLA) 8-6
  2. W. Pilecka & J. Leitch (ASU) def. E. Lumpkin & S. Wetmore (UCLA) 8-6
  3. M. Hein & K. McKenna (ASU) def. A. Remynse & A. Joelson (UCLA) 8-6

Singles

  1. Nadia Abdala (ASU) def. Riza Zalameida (UCLA) 7-6(2) 3-6 6-1
  2. Kelcy McKenna (ASU) def. Tracy Lin (UCLA) 4-6 6-4 6-3
  3. Andrea Remynse (UCLA) def. Laila Abdala (ASU) 6-1 6-3
  4. Ashley Joelson (UCLA) def. Micaela Hein (ASU) 6-1 6-2
  5. Elizabeth Lumpkin (UCLA) def. Jessica Leitch (ASU) 6-1 7-5
  6. Ashlee Brown (ASU) def. Ana Victoria Lind (UCLA) 3-6 6-2 6-1

Order of finish:

Doubles: 1, 3, 2

Singles: 4, 3, 5, 6, 1, 2