TEMPE, Ariz. – Junior Desirae Krawczyk saved the best for last, Friday, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz. While Arizona State (12-6, 3-3 Pac-12) narrowly missed on a victory over No. 3 UCLA, Krawczyk battled into three sets to beat the No. 1-ranked singles player in the country.
Ranked 45th, Krawczyk was the last Sun Devil to walk off the court and it was with a win over top-ranked Bruin Robin Anderson, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
“I am so happy for Desirae because she played extremely well to beat Robin Anderson, the No. 1 player in the country right now,” said head coach Sheila McInerney.
The Sun Devils fought for a highly contested doubles point to start the match with junior Ebony Panoho and sophomore Alexandra Osborne tying up the best-of-three series with the Bruins. Despite missing out on clinching No. 2 doubles, sophomore Kassidy Jump and senior Joanna Smith fought hard on the courts and took the top-ranked doubles team of Kyle McPhillips and Catherine Harrison into extra points.
“Its really too bad we didn’t come through with the win because we certainly had our chances,” said McInerney. “We need to recover quickly to play No. 1 USC tomorrow.”
The Sun Devils face the top-ranked Trojans, Saturday, starting at Noon. The match against No. 1 USC closes out a four-match stretch where ASU has faced four Pac-12 teams ranked in the top-10 in the country according to the ITA National Rankings.
No. 4 UCLA 4, No. 23 Arizona State 3
April 3, 2015
Whiteman Tennis Center
Tempe, Ariz.
Doubles
No. 23 Anderson/Brady (UCLA) def. No. 36 Krawczyk/Vlad (ASU), 8-2
No. 1 McPhillips/Harrison (UCLA) def. No. 77 Jump/Smith (ASU), 8-7 (4)
Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Van Nguyen/Wiley (UCLA), 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. No. 45 Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) def. No. 1 Robin Anderson (UCLA), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
2. No. 46 Jennifer Brady (UCLA) def. Stephanie Vlad (ASU), 6-4, 6-2
3. No. 13 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) def. Kassidy Jump (ASU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
4. Joanna Smith (ASU) def. No. 29 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA), 1-6, 6-4 (10-8)
5. No. 53 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. Gussie O’Sullivan (ASU), 6-0, 6-1
6. Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Kristen Wiley (UCLA), 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
Order of finish; 5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 1