Feb. 23, 2008
, - The No. 18 ASU Women's Tennis jumped to an early lead against Pac-10 rival USC after taking the doubles point, and battled hard through singles, but could not overcome a very resilient 12th-ranked USC team, falling to the Trojans 5-2 in on Saturday. The Sun Devils take their first loss of the season to fall to 6-1 as USC advances to 6-2.
In doubles action, the Devils cruised to victory at the No. 2 position, with Jessica Leitch and Wendy Pilecka beating Lindsey Nelson and Maria Sanchez of the Trojans 8-0. At the No. 1 and 3 spots the Devils fell behind early but rallied back for what turned out to be an exciting doubles point. Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein came back from a 4-1 deficit against Sarah Fansler and Lindsay Kinstler of the Trojans to even out the score and take the match to a tiebreak. The freshman pair were down 5-1 in the tiebreak before rallying back to win it 9-7 and clinch the doubles point for the Devils.
The Sun Devils started off well in singles, establishing leads at the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots but the Trojans showed poise and regained momentum, taking the second sets at those three spots and forcing the Devils to third sets.
Leyla Entakabi scored the first point for the Trojans with her straight set victory over ASU senior Leitch, 6-3 6-4 at the No. 5 spot. The Trojans showed experience and resilience the rest of the match, pulling off wins at No.1 and No. 3. They sealed the match victory with a short volley by sophomore Niculescu in her defeat of McKenna at No. 2. The lone singles victory for the Devils came from freshman Ashlee Brown at No.6, defeating Christy Andrews in a tough three sets 6-2 4-6 6-2.
"We were on track and set ourselves up to win the match but were just unable to take the final step. We knew that they wouldn't go away because they are a good team and good teams always battle until the match is over. We need to be able to hold on to the momentum in the big matches if we want to beat these teams," ASU senior Wendy Pilecka said after the match.
The next match for the Devils is tomorrow Feb. 24 at 11 A.M. at the against the No. 7 UCLA Bruins. The match was rained out on Friday, Feb. 22 and rescheduled for Sunday.
Doubles
- Niculescu & Fink (USC) def. L. Abdala & N. Abdala (ASU) 8-5
- Pilecka & Leitch (ASU) def. Nelson & Sanchez (USC) 8-0
- Hein & McKenna (ASU) def. Fansler & Kinstler (USC) 9-8(7)*
Singles
- Amanda Fink (USC) def. Nadia Abdala (ASU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
- Gabriela Niculescu (USC) def. Kelcy McKenna (ASU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3**
- Sarah Fansler (USC) def. Laila Abdala (ASU) 6-3, 6-4
- Maria Sanchez (USC) def. Micaela Hein 2-6, 7-6, 6-2
- Leyla Entekhabi (USC) def. Jessica Leitch (ASU) 6-4, 6-2
- Ashlee Brown (ASU) def. Christy Andrews (USC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
* Doubles Point Clincher
** Match Clincher