BERKELEY, Calif. - The Arizona State women's tennis team started off on the right foot on Day 1 of the Cal Nike Invitational, but not without a long day of hard work.
Senior Ebony Panoho, juniors Alexandra Osborne and Kassidy Jump, and freshman Sammi Hampton all won in the Round of 32, but they all went three sets to do it. As if that wasn't enough, in the round of 16 all four again went three sets with only Panoho and Hampton earning wins.
"We started out strong in the doubles and then proceeded to play eight three-set matches in the singles and won six of them," head coach Sheila McInerney said. "I can't ever remember having eight singles matches go three sets in one day. Good for our kids to tought it out."
All four women started the day off with doubles matches early in the morning, with Jump and Hampton upsetting 4-seed Gaelle Ray and Marie Klocker from San Jose State, 8-5.
Panoho and Osborne defeated Davidson's Alexandra Huie and Kristy Jorgensen, 8-1.
As all four women entered singles play, Hampton got the day started by coming back in the final two sets to upset 7-seed Jana McCord from St. Mary's 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. The freshman continued to shine in her first collegiate tournament, defeating San Jose State's Sybelle Gauvain 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2 to move to the Quarterfinals.
Panoho will be the other joining her, as she beat Nevada's Sheila Morales in the Round of 32, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3. Then rallied in the final two sets over UC-Santa Barbara's Palina Dubavets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Jump and Osborne both advanced through the Round of 32 after three sets, but both juniors would lose hard-fought, three-set battles in the Round of 16. Each wil move to the consolation bracket.
"I'm really happy with our overall performance today," McInerney said. "I thought we were very tough and resilient.
"It was good for our kids to tough it out. We will need to recover well for tomorrow. I'm extremely proud of how well we competed."
The ladies are all back in action today, with Jump/Hampton and Panoho/Osborne continuing doubles play in the Quarterfinals at 8:30 a.m. PST. Singles play will continue at 11:00 a.m.
Jump and Hampton take on 3-seed Blaga Delic and Sheila Morales from Nevada, while 4-seed Panoho and Osborne will play Brigham Young's Nicolette Tran and Savannah Ware.
Hampton and Panoho will then head to singles play, where they have a match-up against the 1- and 2-seeds from Cal. Hampton will face 1-seed Maegan Manasse, while Panoho draws 2-seed Klara Fabikova.
In the consolation bracket, Osborne takes on BYU's Savannah Ware at 11:00 a.m. while Jump waits until 1:45 p.m. to play BYU's Nicolette Tran.
You can follow along on Cal's Live Stream here.
BLUE ITA Event
Doubles
16. ASU Kassidy Jump/ASU Sammi Hampton d. SJ Gaelle Rey/SJ Marie Klocker 8-5
16. (4) ASU Alex Osborne/ASU Ebony Panoho d. DAV Alexandra Huie/DAV Kristy Jorgensen 8-1
QF. ASU Kassidy Jump/ASU Sammi Hampton d. (3) NEV Blaga Delic/NEV Sheila Morales 8-4
QF. (4) ASU Alex Osborne/ASU Ebony Panoho d. BYU Nicolette Tran/BYU Savannah Ware 8-4
Singles32. ASU Sammi Hampton d. (7) SM Jana McCord 1-6; 7-5; 6-2
32. ASU Alex Osborne d. NEV Claudia Herrero 2-6;7-6(3);6-4
32. (5) ASU Kassidy Jump d. DAV Kristy Jorgensen 1-6;7-5;6-3
32. ASU Ebony Panoho d. NEV Sheila Morales 6-1;2-6;6-3
16. ASU Sammi Hampton d. SJ Sybille Gauvain 6-1;6-7(3);6-2
16. SM Kareena Manji d. ASU Alex Osborne 6-3;0-6;6-4
16. CAL Olivia Hauger d. (5) ASU Kassidy Jump 4-6;6-3;7-5
16. ASU Ebony Panoho d. SB Paulina Dubavets 3-6; 6-3;6-3