ATHENS, Ga. – The Sun Devil women's tennis team dropped its final match of the 2018 campaign in the first round of the NCAA Team Championship 4-2 to Wake Forest Friday at the Athens, Georgia, regional.
ASU was the three-seed in the region behind two-seed Wake and No. 1 Georgia, and the meeting Friday morning was just the second between the two programs in history.
"For starters, I have to congratulate Wake Forest on a well-played match," coach Sheila McInerney said. "I thought we played hard and fought for the whole match, but just came up short."
The Devils battled on all three doubles courts, but only took court three when Nicole Fossa Huergo and Sasa Klanecek combined to win 6-3.
Court two went to Wake Forest and the point-clinching match was the marquee matchup between two of the best doubles pairings in the nation. ASU's twosome came back to force a tiebreak, but the point eventually went the way of the Demon Deacons as the No. 15 tandem in the country gave No. 12 John-Baptiste/Hattingh only its second loss of the season.
In singles play, ASU quickly evened things up with Tereza Kolarova's impressive win on court six in straight-sets. She toppled Alexis Franco 6-2, 6-2 to knot the match 1-1 before Wake took court four a regained a one-point advantage.
"We bounced back pretty well in singles after a super close doubles point," McInerney said. "We won on courts six and five fairly quickly, and we had three-setters brewing on one and three."
Klanecek then won her match on court five to tie it up once again. Wake won on court three and court one to clinch the match and advance to the second round of the NCAA Championship before Ilze Hattingh had a chance to finish her match on court two.
"At one point we had the momentum, but Wake did a good job of regaining it with that win on court three," McInerney said. "This was a tough one to lose, but this match will help us in the future.
"I'm proud of this group and how they battled throughout this year with just six healthy players," McInerney said. "The future is definitely bright."
While the Sun Devils' season as a team is finished, two of the squad's young stars will hit the courts once more as Lauryn John-Baptiste and Hattingh head to the NCAA Doubles Championships later this month in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
ASU was the three-seed in the region behind two-seed Wake and No. 1 Georgia, and the meeting Friday morning was just the second between the two programs in history.
"For starters, I have to congratulate Wake Forest on a well-played match," coach Sheila McInerney said. "I thought we played hard and fought for the whole match, but just came up short."
The Devils battled on all three doubles courts, but only took court three when Nicole Fossa Huergo and Sasa Klanecek combined to win 6-3.
Court two went to Wake Forest and the point-clinching match was the marquee matchup between two of the best doubles pairings in the nation. ASU's twosome came back to force a tiebreak, but the point eventually went the way of the Demon Deacons as the No. 15 tandem in the country gave No. 12 John-Baptiste/Hattingh only its second loss of the season.
In singles play, ASU quickly evened things up with Tereza Kolarova's impressive win on court six in straight-sets. She toppled Alexis Franco 6-2, 6-2 to knot the match 1-1 before Wake took court four a regained a one-point advantage.
"We bounced back pretty well in singles after a super close doubles point," McInerney said. "We won on courts six and five fairly quickly, and we had three-setters brewing on one and three."
Klanecek then won her match on court five to tie it up once again. Wake won on court three and court one to clinch the match and advance to the second round of the NCAA Championship before Ilze Hattingh had a chance to finish her match on court two.
"At one point we had the momentum, but Wake did a good job of regaining it with that win on court three," McInerney said. "This was a tough one to lose, but this match will help us in the future.
"I'm proud of this group and how they battled throughout this year with just six healthy players," McInerney said. "The future is definitely bright."
While the Sun Devils' season as a team is finished, two of the squad's young stars will hit the courts once more as Lauryn John-Baptiste and Hattingh head to the NCAA Doubles Championships later this month in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.