April 4, 2008
PULLMAN, Wash. - The No. 12 Women's Tennis team (13-4, 4-1) defeated Pac-10 rival Washington State 5-2 in Pullman on Friday. The Devils came back after a slow start put them behind in the match.
In doubles the Devils struck early, when freshmen Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein defeated Marina Nicolas and Bianca Selaru 8-3 at No.2, for their 14th win of the dual match season. But the Cougars put up strong performances at the No. 1 and 3 spots and claimed the last two doubles matches to secure the point to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Devils retaliated in singles, with sophomore Nadia Abdala putting ASU on the map with a straight-set victory over Ekaterina Burduli at No.1 to tie the match score at 1-1. N. Abdala, ranked No. 31 in the ITA polls, broke away after leading Burduli 4-3 in the first set and won the last eight games of the match for a 6-3 6-0. Laila Abdala netted the next point for the Devils with a solid performance at No. 3, defeating Ekaterina Kamendova 6-2 6-2. McKenna and Hein secured the match for the Devils with straight-set wins at No. 2 and No.4 respectively. Senior Vendula Pilecka added to the tally, beating Bianca Selaru of the Cougars 6-3 6-1 and put the Devils up 5-1. The last point of the match went to the Cougars as Ashley Brown fell to Nicolas 7-5 6-1 at No. 6 to set the overall mach score at 5-2.
"Playing this team at home was tough. They are very feisty and play well on their own turf. Given that we lost the doubles point we came out to play singles as if the score was even and played like we were the better team. It feels good going into our match against Washington tomorrow with a win today," N. Abdala said after the match.
The Devils continue their Washington road trip tomorrow in Seattle when they take on the Huskies at noon. Next week the Devils play USC and UCLA in Los Angeles to continue their Pac-10 play.
ASU def. WSU 5-2
Doubles
1. E. Burduli & E. Kamendova (WSU) def. N. Abdala & L. Abdala (ASU) 8-5 2. M. Hein & K. McKenna (ASU) def. M. Nicolas & B. Selaru (WSU) 8-3 3. A. Cekic & A. Stefanova (WSU) def. W. Pilecka & L. Megale (ASU) 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. Nadia Abdala (ASU) def. Ekaterina Burduli (WSU) 6-3, 6-0 2. Kelcy McKenna (ASU) def. Aleksandra Stefanova (WSU) 6-3, 6-3 3. Laila Abdala (ASU) def. Ekaterina Kamendova (WSU) 6-2, 6-2 4. Micaela Hein (ASU) def. Aleksandra Cekic (WSU) 7-5, 6-2 5. Wendy Pilecka (ASU) def. Bianca Selaru (WSU) 6-3, 6-1 6. Marina Nicolas (WSU) def. Ashlee Brown (ASU) 7-5, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6