TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State women's tennis team had a case of déjà vu as they earned another 6-1 victory, and this time over UTEP on Friday at Whiteman Tennis Center.
The Sun Devils start the season 2-1 overall and 2-0 at home after knocking off No. 43 Princeton on Thursday 6-1 as well.
"We had two really great and really tough matches to start off at home," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "Both Princeton and UTEP competed hard and made us work for it. That was probably the hardest we've had to work for a victory thus far."
Doubles once again started on the right foot, as senior Desirae Krawczyk and junior Gussie O'Sullivan picked up the 6-1 victory on court three over UTEP's Matilda Tench and Raven Bennett.
Court one was a back and forth battle between ASU's senior Ebony Panoho and junior Alexandra Osborne and the Miners' top duo of Duda Santos and Vivienne Kulicke. The Sun Devils got down 2-3 out of the gate before evening it out and eventually going up 4-3. UTEP would tie it back up before Panoho and Osborne finished the match in emotional fashion, 6-4.
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As singles began, O'Sullivan, Panoho and junior Kassidy Jump all got out to early leads and held on through the first set, winning 6-1, 6-2 and 6-3 respectively. Each of them finished their matches in straight sets. Panoho never trailed once.
Osborne did the same in her first set, getting out to a 2-1 lead and never looking back as she would take the first set 6-1 over Tench. Her second set went down to the wire before losing 4-6, forcing a third set. The third and final set is now a 10-point tiebreaker, and Osborne took it the distance before winning 10-8 for the match.
On court four, freshman Sammi Hampton got down 1-2 early before bouncing back and earning a 6-2 win in the first set. She never trailed in the second set and finished her match with a 6-1 victory.
Krawczyk, however, had a long battle with UTEP's Kulicke as they went all three sets. The first set went back and forth, with the two tying the set at two, four and five. Kulicke would eventually win the first set 7-5.
In the second set, it was all Krawczyk with a dominating 6-0 performance. In the 10-point tiebreak, Krawczyk fell behind 2-5 before eventually winning three-straight points to even it up at five. From there, they would tie all the way through the eighth point before Kulicke finished the final two points for the only UTEP victory.
The Sun Devils enjoy a week off from competition before getting back at it against the University of San Diego at home on Saturday, Feb. 13 at noon MT.
No. 27 Arizona State 6, UTEP 1
January 29, 2016
Whiteman Tennis Center
Tempe, Ariz.
Doubles
1. Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Santos/Kulicke (UTEP) – 6-4
2. Jump/Hampton (ASU) vs. Visscher/Wagenvoort (UTEP) – 5-4 (Abandoned)
3. Krawczyk/O’Sullivan (ASU) def. Tench/Bennett (UTEP) – 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1
Singles
1. Kulicke (UTEP) def. Krawczyk (ASU) – 7-5, 0-6, 10-8
2. Jump (ASU) def. Santos (UTEP) – 6-3, 6-4
3. Panoho (ASU) def. Wagenvoort (UTEP) – 6-2, 6-0
4. Hampton (ASU) def. Visscher (UTEP) – 6-2, 6-1
5. O’Sullivan (ASU) def. Bennett (UTEP) – 6-1, 6-1
6. Osborne (ASU) def. Tench (UTEP) – 6-1, 4-6, 10-8
Order of finish: 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 1