TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State women's tennis team opened up its first home match with a 6-1 victory over No. 43 Princeton on Thursday, Jan. 28 at Whiteman Tennis Center. They moved their record to 2-1, 0-0 in the regular season.
"I was pleased with today's match," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "Princeton is a very formidable opponent at home. You try to get an easier first match at home, but thought our kids came out and competed well.
"Princeton beat us a few years ago at NCAA's with a lot of the same kids back. We had good momentum and kept it throughout match."
The No. 27-ranked Sun Devils started on the right foot in doubles, as senior Desirae Krawczyk and junior Gussie O'Sullivan swept through their match with Princeton's Dorothy Tang and Caroline Joyce, 6-0.
Not minutes later on court two, junior Kassidy Jump and freshman Sammi Hampton took their match 6-2 over Amanda Muliawan and Emily Hahn to give the Sun Devils the first point of the match.
In singles, Krawczyk continued her recent dominance on the court, defeating Muliawan 6-0, 6-2 to make it 2-0 in favor of ASU.
On court four, Hampton was quietly moving quickly through her match with Sivan Krems. Hampton would move the Sun Devils that much closer to a victory, winning 6-3, 6-2.
"The dual meets are different for freshman," McInerney said. "She's very good player and shes going to just get better. The more comfortable she gets, the level will only go up."
After Princeton's Alanna Wolff stole her match from junior Alexandra Osborne, Jump battled back and forth with Katrine Steffensen before taking the first and second set 6-3 for the clinching match point.
McInerney and Princeton head coach Laura Granville decided to let the other two matches continue, and it provided fireworks for the crowd.
Senior Ebony Panoho fell behind 1-2 in the first set before battling back to a 3-2 lead. She finished with a 6-4 victory. In set two, she again fell behind but this time 0-4. Again, she battled back and tallied six-straight to win the set and the match.
Over on court five, O'Sullivan was putting Joyce to work, grinding out the long match. Down 4-5, O'Sullivan won three straight to break the set with a 7-5 victory. In the second set, she yet again went back and forth with Joyce, going down 2-3 before making it 3-all. It then went to 4-3 in favor of O'Sullivan before back to a tie at 4-all. From there, she ran away with the final two points for the set and match.
The Sun Devils ended up winning 6-1 over the Tigers.
"It was a good first match at home and we have another match tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.," said McInerney. "Hopefully we'll bulild on this."
ASU bounces back with another home match against the University of Texas-El Paso at 1:30 p.m. at Whiteman Tennis Center.
No. 27 Arizona State 6, No. 43 Princeton 1
January, 28, 2016
Whiteman Tennis Center
Tempe, Ariz.
Doubles
1. No. 39 Panoho/Osborne (ASU) vs. Steffensen/Kalhorn (PU) - 4-3 (Abandoned)
2. No. 42 Jump/Hampton (ASU) def. Muliawan/Hahn - 6-2
3. Krawczyk/O'Sullivan (ASU) def. Tang/Joyce - 6-0
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1. No. 75 Desirae Krawczyk (ASU) def. Amanda Muliawan (PU) - 6-0, 6-2
2. Kassidy Jump (ASU) def. No. 87 Katrine Steffensen (PU) - 6-3, 6-3
3. Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Nicole Kalhorn (PU) - 6-4, 6-4
4. Sammi Hampton (ASU) def. Sivan Krems (PU) - 6-3, 6-2
5. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) def. Caroline Joyce (PU) - 7-5, 6-4
6. Alanna Wolff (PU) def. Alexandra Osborne (ASU) - 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 4, 6, 2, 3, 5