BERKELEY, Calif. - The Arizona State women's tennis team wrapped up their final day at the Cal Nike Invitational on Sunday morning, as doubles' pair senoir Ebony Panoho and junior Alexandra Osborne fell in the finals.
"It was a good tournament for Ebony and Alex, but Cal's team played flawless today," head coach Sheila McInerney said. "They made no unforced errors and put us under pressure right from the start."
As the No. 4-seed, Panoho and Osborne battled hard through the doubles bracket before falling to No. 1-seed Denise Starr and Maegan Manasse from Cal. They would also compete through the weekend as singles.
The first day consisted of back-to-back three set matches for each of them in the singles bracket, which was preceded by a doubles match for them together.
Junior Kassidy Jump and freshman Sammi Hampton were eliminated from the doubles bracket in the semifinals, but competed against UC-Santa Barbara's Palina Dubavets and Stefani Stojic in the consolation bracket. They earn a 4th-place finish after falling to them 8-3.
For the first tournament, McInerney was very pleased and knows the competition will only benefit her women in the long run as the season ramps up.
"They gained invaluable experience this weekend playing for the first time," McInerney said. "Ebony finished the tournament well today witha singles win against a girl from Sacramento State."
The ladies will build off some time off before their next match.
Senior Desirae Krawczyk -- ranked No. 26 -- will start up in the All-American Championships on Tuesday, Oct. 6, while her doubles partner Stephanie Vlad -- ranked No. 6 together -- start on Thursday, Oct. 8.
BLUE ITA Event
Doubles
F. (1) CAL Denise Starr/CAL Maegan Manasse d. (4) ASU Alex Osborne/ASU Ebony Panoho 8.1