OJAI, Calif. – The Arizona State women's tennis team punched its ticket to the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Team Championship Wednesday afternoon when coach Sheila McInerney's Sun Devils took care of 11-seed Oregon 4-0 in Ojai, California.
"Really great job by the girls today," associate head coach Matt Langley said. "It's always great to get a win and advance in the conference tournament."
The Devils entered the Championship as the six-seed in the conference and recently handled the Ducks 6-1 in Tempe just under two weeks ago. The familiarity played to the Devils' advantage as they were able to wrap up the sweep in a little over two hours.
ASU's first point came from the doubles matches when court two's No. 76 Alicea/Hampton and court three's Slaysman/Kolarova took care of their Oregon opponents.
The Ducks took court one to get into the drivers' seat early, but Slaysman/Kolarova's 6-1 win on court three put the Devils right back into contention for the crucial opening point. Alicea/Hampton went into a tiebreak but pulled out the win 7-6 (3) to send ASU into singles play with the lead.
"I thought we started off a little slow in the doubles going down 1-4 quickly on courts one and two," Langley said. "Sam and Sammi did a nice job of composing themselves, coming back, and winning their match in a tiebreaker to clinch us the doubles point, which I felt was really helpful in giving us the momentum of the overall match."
In singles play, the Devils got it done on the lower courts with wins on four, five and six to complete the sweep.
"I felt the girls came out strong in singles and really carried the momentum all the way through their matches," Langley said.
Just like their previous meeting, it didn't take long for ASU to extend its lead on Oregon as freshman Samantha Alicea swept her way to a win on court six 6-0, 6-0 – an improvement on her 6-2, 6-2 win in Tempe.
In the last match, Oregon's one win came on court five, but the result was reversed Wednesday as Savannah Slaysman rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win to bring ASU within one point of advancing to the quarterfinal round.
The Devils took the first set on all but one of the courts and the race to clinch the match came down to Ilze Hattingh on court one, Tereza Kolarova on three and Sammi Hampton on four.
Hampton battled to a 6-4 win in the first set, but made it look easy in the second as she cruised to a 6-1 win and clinched a Sun Devil victory for the second-straight outing.
With the win, the Sun Devils set themselves up for a tussle with the three-seed Washington Huskies in Ojai, Thursday at 6 p.m.
In ASU's last match with Washington, the Devils took the doubles point, but ultimately fell short of completing the upset in Seattle, dropping the match 4-1.
"We had a tough one against Washington earlier this season," Langley said. "With that being said, we are looking forward to going out there tomorrow evening and giving it everything we have to reach the semifinal."
"Really great job by the girls today," associate head coach Matt Langley said. "It's always great to get a win and advance in the conference tournament."
The Devils entered the Championship as the six-seed in the conference and recently handled the Ducks 6-1 in Tempe just under two weeks ago. The familiarity played to the Devils' advantage as they were able to wrap up the sweep in a little over two hours.
ASU's first point came from the doubles matches when court two's No. 76 Alicea/Hampton and court three's Slaysman/Kolarova took care of their Oregon opponents.
The Ducks took court one to get into the drivers' seat early, but Slaysman/Kolarova's 6-1 win on court three put the Devils right back into contention for the crucial opening point. Alicea/Hampton went into a tiebreak but pulled out the win 7-6 (3) to send ASU into singles play with the lead.
"I thought we started off a little slow in the doubles going down 1-4 quickly on courts one and two," Langley said. "Sam and Sammi did a nice job of composing themselves, coming back, and winning their match in a tiebreaker to clinch us the doubles point, which I felt was really helpful in giving us the momentum of the overall match."
In singles play, the Devils got it done on the lower courts with wins on four, five and six to complete the sweep.
"I felt the girls came out strong in singles and really carried the momentum all the way through their matches," Langley said.
Just like their previous meeting, it didn't take long for ASU to extend its lead on Oregon as freshman Samantha Alicea swept her way to a win on court six 6-0, 6-0 – an improvement on her 6-2, 6-2 win in Tempe.
In the last match, Oregon's one win came on court five, but the result was reversed Wednesday as Savannah Slaysman rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win to bring ASU within one point of advancing to the quarterfinal round.
The Devils took the first set on all but one of the courts and the race to clinch the match came down to Ilze Hattingh on court one, Tereza Kolarova on three and Sammi Hampton on four.
Hampton battled to a 6-4 win in the first set, but made it look easy in the second as she cruised to a 6-1 win and clinched a Sun Devil victory for the second-straight outing.
With the win, the Sun Devils set themselves up for a tussle with the three-seed Washington Huskies in Ojai, Thursday at 6 p.m.
In ASU's last match with Washington, the Devils took the doubles point, but ultimately fell short of completing the upset in Seattle, dropping the match 4-1.
"We had a tough one against Washington earlier this season," Langley said. "With that being said, we are looking forward to going out there tomorrow evening and giving it everything we have to reach the semifinal."