LOS ANGELES -- The No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils (18-6; Pac-12 5-4) women's tennis team fell to the No. 2 UCLA Bruins, 7-0, on Saturday afternoon to round out a weekend of Pac-12 competition in southern California.
"I was really pleased with the way we came out in the doubles," ASU Head Coach Sheila McInerney said. "We made a huge improvement from yesterday. We played very aggressive and played to win out there."
Arizona State hung close in doubles play, falling short by just two games on the number three court, 8-6. The Sun Devils also found themselves down by only two games on the number one court when play was abandoned.
"UCLA's doubles teams were tough and we were right there with them," McInerney said.
From there however, UCLA showed their top-5 ranking dominance and won out matches on all but one of the singles courts in two straight sets.
The closest match came on the No. 6 court with freshman Gussie O'Sullivan taking Courtney Dolehide to a third set tie-break. The Sun Devil was able to win her first set 7-5, but then fell 6-3 in the second and 10-4 in the tie-break.
"Once UCLA won the doubles point, they came out and played very well in singles. They kept the pressure on us and we would've had to play incredibly well to come back from losing the doubles point," McInerney said.
The Sun Devils will travel home to Tempe, Ariz. for a week of practice before heading down to Tucson, Ariz. next week for a matchup against rival Arizona as part of the Territorial Cup.
Despite the loss, the young ASU squad picked up many lessons along the way that will surely prove useful down the stretch as the team heads into postseason tournament play in the next few weeks. Lessons that would not have been learned if the team did not matchup against such high quality opponents.
"Give credit to UCLA, they are tough to beat anytime, particularly at home," McInerney said.
#2 UCLA 7, #19 Arizona State 0
Apr 12, 2014 at Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Tennis Center)
DOUBLES
1. #1 Anderson/Brady (UCLA) vs. Krawczyk/Sahagun (ASU) 7-5, unfinished
2. #8 Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA) def. Jump/Joanna Smith (ASU) 8-3
3. Dolehide/Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) def. Alexandra Osborne/Panoho (ASU) 8-6
SINGLES
1. #2 Robin Anderson (UCLA) def. Stephanie Vlad (ASU) 6-3, 6-2
2. #11 Jennifer Brady (UCLA) def. #49 Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) 2-1, retired
3. #31 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) def. Kassidy Jump (ASU) 6-3, 6-1
4. #74 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. Leighann Sahagun (ASU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Kaitlin Ray (UCLA) def. Ebony Panoho (ASU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Courtney Dolehide (UCLA) def. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) 5-7, 6-3, (10-4)