April 11, 2008
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Despite rallying to take the doubles point, the No. 14 ASU Women's Tennis Team was unable to pull off a win Friday afternoon as they were defeated 5-2 by the No. 10 USC Women of Troy at Marks Stadium in Los Angeles. The loss drops ASU to 13-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
The Sun Devils came out strong in doubles as Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein kept their streak going as they took home the first win on the day as they topped the Nelson/Kinstler duo in an easy 8-3 match. The 28th-ranked sister duo of Laila and Nadia Abdala came in next to take down the sixth-ranked Amanda Fink and Gabriela Niculescu team in a decisive 8-4 win to seal the point.
The Women of Troy weren't done though as they stormed back in singles to take four straight matches to snake the win from the Sun Devils before No. 31 Nadia Abdala took a match from the 50th-ranked Lindsey Nelson who took the first set 6-1 before Abdala returned the favor in the second set. Abdala led the third set 2-0 before Nelson retired in the match forfeiting the point.
The Sun Devils return to action tomorrow as they hit the courts again in Los Angeles taking on the No. 7 UCLA Bruins at noon PT tomorrow.
#10 USC 5, #14 Arizona State 2
DOUBLES
(1) #28 Abdala/Abdala (ASU) def. #6 Fink/Niculescu (USC) - 8-4
(2) McKenna/Hein (ASU) def. Nelson/Kinstler (USC) - 8-3
(3) Andrews/Sanchez (USC) def. Pilecka/Megale (ASU) - 8-5
ASU wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES
(1) #31 Nadia Abdala (ASU) def. #50 Lindsey Nelson (USC) - 1-6, 6-1, 2-0 ret.
(2) #10 Amanda Fink (USC) def. #26 Kelcy McKenna (ASU) - 6-1, 6-2
(3) #71 Gabriela Niculescu (USC) def. Laila Abdala (ASU) - 6-2, 6-1
(4) #118 Sarah Fansler (USC) def. Micaela Hein (ASU) - 6-3, 6-3
(5) #115 Maria Sanchez (USC) def. Wendy Pilecka (ASU) - 6-4, 6-2*
(6) #108 Leyla Entekhabi (USC) def. Ashlee Brown (ASU) - 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 2, 6, 4, 5*, 1, 3