TEMPE, Ariz. – A full Arizona State women’s tennis team took the court on Saturday afternoon against the University of San Diego, and brought the brooms with them as the No. 27 Sun Devils won 7-0 at Whiteman Tennis Center.
“I thought we played well today,” Sun Devil tennis head coach Sheila McInerney said. “We came out and won the doubles point fairly handily, got off to a really good start in all the sets and they battled back. They made a match of it on courts 1, 4, 5 and 6. I give them credit for competing really hard and it was good for our kids to have to sort of finish those matches out.
Doubles started off with senior Ebony Panoho and junior Alexandra Osborne continuing to show their chemistry and the effect it has on the court. Panoho and Osborne once again played as the Devils’ No. 1 duo and showed no problems with a 6-1 victory over Dana Oppinger and Drew Spinosa.
Minutes later, the ying-and-yang duo of extrovert Kassidy Jump and introvert Sammi Hampton finished their match with Sherri Blecher and Marta Stojanovic, 6-2.
In singles, Jump – currently ranked No. 98 in the country -- was as good as she’s been all season, never trailing to San Diego’s Drew Spinosa en route to a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Back on court one, No. 36 Desirae Krawczyk finished the first set with a 6-3 victory. In the second, she found herself down 3-0 right off the bat. She then showed why she’s on court one, as Krawczyk put on a show to win six-straight points and clinch the match for ASU.
As they have all season, the other singles matches continued and like the first three, they favored the maroon and gold.
Senior Stephanie Vlad returned for her first match of the winter, and looked like she hadn’t missed a beat. Vlad defeated Maria-Paula Torres 6-1, 7-5 on court four.
On court five, Hampton continued to sneak under the radar with her strong play, earning her fourth-straight singles victory during her freshman campaign.
As McInerney said when previewing the meet, the Torerros are grinders and their entire roster battles through matches.
It was only fitting that our very own grinder, junior Gussie O’Sullivan, finished the match with ASU’s seventh and final point after a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) back-and-forth battle on court six.
The Sun Devil women moved to 4-1, 0-0 on the season and travel to No. 17 Pepperdine for their biggest match thus far this season on Monday at 1 p.m. PT, 2 p.m. MT.
No. 27 Arizona State 7, USD 0 February 13, 2016 Whiteman Tennis Center Tempe, Ariz.Doubles
1. Panoho/Osborne (ASU) def. Oppinger/Spinosa (USD) – 6-1
2. Jump/Hampton (ASU) def. Blecher/Stojanovic (USD) – 6-2
3. Krawczyk/O’Sullivan (ASU) vs. Torres/DiFilippo (USD) (5-3) Abandoned
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles
1. Krawczyk (ASU) def. Stojanovic – 6-3, 6-3
2. Jump (ASU) def. Spinosa – 6-0, 6-1
3. Panoho (ASU) def. Oppinger (USD) – 6-1, 2-1 (Retired)
4. Vlad (ASU) def. Torres (USD) – 6-1, 7-5
5. Hampton (ASU) def. Blecher (USD) – 6-2, 7-5
6. O’Sullivan (ASU) def. DiFilippo (USD) – 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
7. Osborne (ASU) def. Rush (USD) – 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6