Sun Devil Tennis Makes it Eight Straight

Tacking on yet another win to their seven match win streak, the No. 25 Arizona State Sun Devils (13-3; Pac-12 1-0) women's tennis team defeated the No. 40 Purdue Boilermakers 5-2 in a mid-week Tuesday afternoon matchup at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz.   "I thought we played pretty well today, especially taking into account the fact that Purdue is a pretty good team," ASU Head Coach Sheila McInerney said. The Sun Devils opened the match in tremendous fashion, capturing wins on both the first and second courts by four and five point margins. Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad defeated Krisztina Kapitany and Mara Schmidt 8-4, while Leighann Sahagun and Alexandra Osborne topped Daniela Vidal and Natalia Davila 8-3. The pairing of Joanna Smith and Stephanie Vlad walked away from their match against Tess Bernard Feigenbaum and Nicole Robinson due to the point being captured.  The early jump on Purdue gave ASU enough momentum to carry on throughout the match, something that the ASU head coach was happy to see. "I thought we had a lot more energy in the doubles today than we did in both of the last two matches against Yale and BYU, so I was happy with the way we played in doubles and obviously it earned us the doubles point which helped," McInerney said. In singles play, ASU continued on the winning path picking up singles wins on every court except four and six. Three Sun Devils won out in two sets -- Stephanie Vlad quickly put Daniela Vidal away 6-1, 6-1, Desirae Krawczyk topped her opponent, Mara Schmidt, in two sets 6-3, 6-1, and Ebony Panoho defeated Krisztina Kapitany 6-0, 6-1. Leighann Sahagun was the only Sun Devil who needed longer than two sets to earn her victory, topping Tess Bernard Feigenbaum 6-4, 2-6 (10-7). "We went out and won the first set in singles, and sometimes you just have to get the doubles point and then keep the momentum throughout the rest of the match, and I think we did a really good job with that," McInerney said. Another tally in the win column can do nothing but help Arizona State, who opened Pac-12 play with a win over the University of Washington 6-1 just a short time ago. From here, ASU will dive head first into the most difficult stretch of their regular season schedule, preparing to face Pac-12 rivals Oregon, Stanford, USC and Cal.  "At this time of the year we'd much rather play tennis than practice," McInerney said. "I think a match like today where you have to be out there in a tough match only helps you down the road." That road will make its first stop against the University of Oregon and Washington State this weekend in Tempe.  "Nothing has been easy for us this season and the matches we have coming up aren't going to be any easier," McInerney added.     No. 25 Arizona State 5 :: No. 40 Purdue 2 Whiteman Tennis Center Tempe, Arizona 3/18/14 1:30 p.m. MST   DOUBLES
1. Desirae Krawkczyk/Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Krisztina Kapitany/Mara Schmidt (Purdue) 8-4 2. Leighann Sahagun/Alexandra Osborne (ASU) def. Daniela Vidal/Natalia Davila (Purdue) 8-3 3. Joanna Smith/Stephanie Vlad (ASU) vs. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum/Nicole Robinson (Purdue) DNF SINGLES 1. Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Daniela Vidal (Purdue) 6-1, 6-1 2. Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) def. Mara Schmidt (Purdue) 6-3, 6-1 3. Leighann Sahagun (ASU) def. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Purdue) 6-4, 2-6 (10-7) 4. Nicole Robinson (Purdue) def. Kassidy Jump (ASU) 7-6, 6-0 5. Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Krisztina Kapitany (Purdue) 6-0, 6-1 6. Andjela Djokovic (Purdue) def. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) 7-5, 6-3, 12-10