TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's tennis team finished their fall season at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 15, with senior Desirae Krawczyk capturing the tournament title.
Head coach Sheila McInerney saw progression as the fall season continued and that's the important thing heading into the 2016 regular season.
"There's no question the Thunderbird was the best tournament of the fall," she said. "We certainly have gotten a lot better -- we were much better in November than we were in August, so that's always a good thing. Now we've got five weeks before we come back to practice again starting up in early January."
McInerney and her squad enter her 32nd season as the women's tennis head coach with a streak of 28-straight NCAA tournament appearances -- the longest postseason appearance streak in ASU history. McInerney has made 30 tournament appearances in her 31 years and puts her and the Sun Devils at seventh all-time in NCAA history.
Cal/Nike Invitational
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 earned a 4th-place finish after falling to them 8-3. As the No. 4-seed, senior Ebony Panoho and junior Alexandra 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.
ITA All-American Championships
Senior Desirae Krawczyk -- ranked No. 26 by ITA tennis -- started the tournament on the right foot, beating Arkansas' Shannon Hudson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first match of the day. She entered the qualifying round of 64 as the No. 4 seed, but would be eliminated by Georgia's Silvia Garcia 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of qualifying on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
ITA All-American Championships (Doubles)
Arizona State doubles pair of Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad got a bye in the first round of the main draw doubles bracket, but would fall to Georgia's Ellen Perez and Mariana Gould 8-5 in the second round on Thursday, Oct. 8. As the No. 2 seed on the consolation side, the two would defeat Florida State's Gabriella Castaneda and Emily Fanning 8-5. The seniors -- ranked No. 6 in the nation in doubles -- lost 3-6 in the first set before bouncing back with a 7-6 (2) victory in the second to Northwestern's Alex Chatt and Maddie Lipp. A match tiebreak decided the semifinal contest, and the Sun Devil pair fell 6-10.
ITA Regionals
After sweeping the first day in straight sets, Arizona State junior Gussie O'Sullivan was knocked out of the ITA Regional Championships in the round of 32 after a four-hour rain delay. Making it as far as the round of 32 in a 128 draw was a great start to the season for O'Sullivan, who was participating in her first tournament since the spring. Pepperdine's Matea Cutura stood in O'Sullivan's way of making it to the round of 16. Cutura swept in straight sets, winning the first 1-6. In the second, Cutura broke out in front again 1-5, but O'Sullivan rallied to get it to 3-5. Cutura finished it, winning the second set 3-6.
RESULTS
128. ASU Gussie O'Sullivan d. Cal State Northridge Vivian Lin 6-2; 6-4
64. ASU Gussie O'Sullivan d. SDSU Dora Somoracz 6-2; 6-0
32. PEPP Matea Cutura d. ASU Gussie O'Sullivan 6-1; 6-3
UT Invite
Day 1 − The Arizona State women's tennis team finished day one at the Tennessee Fall Invitational going 3-3 in doubles play against Ohio State and winning four of the six singles matches versus Tennessee. In singles, No. 26 Desirae Krawczyk and freshman Sammi Hampton had hard fought battles going three sets and each needing a tiebreaker in the first set.
Day 2 − After taking four of the six singles matches on day one, ASU dropped five of their seven competitions on Saturday morning. One of their two victories came on Wake Forest's Anna Ulyashchenko retiring against Kassidy Jump. At the time, Jump was up 5-2 in the first set. No. 26 Desirae Krawczyk fell to Demon Deacon junior Kimmy Guerin in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. After splitting in doubles the first day 3-3 with Ohio State, the Devils bounced back to win two of the three matches against Tennessee. The Devils were originally supposed to play six matches against Wake Forest in doubles, but late adjustments were made resulting in just three against the Volunteers.
Day 3 − Juniors Gussie O'Sullivan and Kassidy Jump played outstanding in the three days, with O'Sullivan winning all three of her singles matches while Jump won two of her three against Ohio State, Wake Forest and Tennessee.
@SunDevilTennis Signs AZ Top Recruit Savannah Slaysman
Arizona State women's tennis head coach Sheila McInerney and the Sun Devils signed local talent Savannah Slaysman for the 2016-17 season. Slaysman, who is from Arizona Connections Academy, is listed as the No. 2 recruit from the state of Arizona and No. 28 nationally according to tennisrecruiting.net.
ASU Thunderbird
Day 1 − Seniors Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad both advanced to the quarterfinals, but on very different paths. Krawczyk blazed through both of her matches, winning 6-0, 6-0 against Cal's Audrey Mayer before finishing up far before anyone else with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over NAU's Marta Lewandowska. Vlad on the other hand had a much more trying day, winning in straight sets over Fresno State's Rana Sherif Ahmed before a long fought match against the No. 4 seed. Cal's Karla Popovic and Vlad battled through all three sets before Vlad finished the third set with a 6-3 victory for the upset. Ebony Panoho didn't want to be the only senior left out of the party, as she cruised through her two matches 6-0, 6-2 and 6-0, 6-1 to join her fellow seniors in the quarterfinals. She would do battle on day two against Vlad in a Sun Devil senior battle .
Day 2 − In the quarterfinals, Panoho knocked off Vlad 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a hard fought match between the two. Krawczyk unfortunately had to go through Panoho in the semifinals -- winning 6-1, 7-5 -- to get to the championship.
Day 3 − Senior Desirae Krawczyk became the first Sun Devil to win the ASU Thunderbird Invitational since Kelcy McKenna in 2010, as she defeated Michigan's Kate Fahey 6-2, 6-4. She was also just the second ASU tennis player ever to win it in the tournament's 21-year history.
1st- Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) 2nd - Kate Fahey (Michigan) #TBirdatASU #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/uRcAjqf21C
— Sun Devil Tennis (@sundeviltennis) November 15, 2015