TULSA, Okla. -- The season for the Arizona State women's tennis program came to an end on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Doubles Championship at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
"It was a great tournament for Ebony and Alex overall, but we certainly had our chances against a very good Florida team today," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "In contrast to yesterday, we got off to a great start today up 4-1 and then lost three deuce games in a row. We got a little tentative after that and Florida was able to seize the momentum and just took the match from us. Credit to them for stepping up when they saw an opening."
No. 15 Ebony Panoho and Alex Osborne battled through the first set of their match with No. 3 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida, but couldn't hold on down the stretch. The Australians went up early and were on a roll, but a few strikes by the pair from Florida brought them back into the match and cruised to five-straight points for the first set victory.
The Gators rolled that momentum into the second set and never let off the gas, cruising to a 6-1 set win and clinched the match in straight sets.
"I'm proud of Ebony and Alex, as they went from playing as our #3 doubles last year to NCAA quarterfinalists and All-Americans this year," said McInerney.
Despite the loss, Panoho ended her senior season with her first All-American honor and one of just six doubles pairs in ASU history to make the quarterfinal round.
Together, Panoho and Osborne finished the 2015-16 season as the program's first Pac-12 doubles champions with a 21-9 record.