NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Savannah Slaysman and the Sun Devil women's tennis team made history Saturday when they took down No. 9 Vanderbilt in comeback fashion to advance to the ITA Indoor National Championships for the first time since the start of the Kickoff Weekend.
"It was an amazing win for us," coach Sheila McInerney said. "It was about as difficult as it gets, so I'm proud of the way the girls fought today. We were down after the doubles point, lost the first set on four courts, and had four three-setters – it was really a battle out there."
Arizona State found themselves down early after the ninth-ranked Commodores claimed the doubles point with wins on courts two and three.
The road to victory was made even more arduous after the Devils dropped three first sets on the five courts in action inside the Currey Tennis Center. The Dores would claim another first-set win later when the court six match began play.
Despite being down early, ASU found a way to turn things around, and it started with All-American Lauryn John-Baptiste.
In just her second match of the season, John-Baptiste evened the card when she defeated her court four opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Vandy would reclaim the lead moments later with a win on court three, then the waiting game began as the remaining four matches all headed into winner-take-all third sets.
No. 41 Ilze Hattingh's 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over No. 22 Georgia Drummy brought the match to 2 apiece and the Devils never trailed again.
Cali Jankowski pushed the lead to 3-2 as she won in three sets on court five, and Vanderbilt evened the score again with a win on court two.
The match win and a spot in the ITA Indoor Championships came down to court six where Slaysman had just blanked her opponent in the second set and was in a tricky third set with Dasha Kourkina.
"She's just got ice water in her veins and she loves to be out there in that match-clinching situation," McInerney said. "It wasn't ideal and she was down 5-3 in the deciding set, but she battled back to make it 6-5, then in the tiebreak she locked in and got it done for us."
Slaysman battled back again to clinch the win for the second-straight outing and wrap up ASU's weekend in historic fashion.
With the 4-3 win over Vandy, ASU moved to 4-0 in 2020, claimed one of the 15 at-large bids to the ITA Indoor Championships in February, and picked up its first win over a top-10 program since the Devils upset No. 7 California in 2011.
"It was an amazing win for us," coach Sheila McInerney said. "It was about as difficult as it gets, so I'm proud of the way the girls fought today. We were down after the doubles point, lost the first set on four courts, and had four three-setters – it was really a battle out there."
Arizona State found themselves down early after the ninth-ranked Commodores claimed the doubles point with wins on courts two and three.
The road to victory was made even more arduous after the Devils dropped three first sets on the five courts in action inside the Currey Tennis Center. The Dores would claim another first-set win later when the court six match began play.
Despite being down early, ASU found a way to turn things around, and it started with All-American Lauryn John-Baptiste.
In just her second match of the season, John-Baptiste evened the card when she defeated her court four opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Vandy would reclaim the lead moments later with a win on court three, then the waiting game began as the remaining four matches all headed into winner-take-all third sets.
No. 41 Ilze Hattingh's 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over No. 22 Georgia Drummy brought the match to 2 apiece and the Devils never trailed again.
Cali Jankowski pushed the lead to 3-2 as she won in three sets on court five, and Vanderbilt evened the score again with a win on court two.
The match win and a spot in the ITA Indoor Championships came down to court six where Slaysman had just blanked her opponent in the second set and was in a tricky third set with Dasha Kourkina.
"She's just got ice water in her veins and she loves to be out there in that match-clinching situation," McInerney said. "It wasn't ideal and she was down 5-3 in the deciding set, but she battled back to make it 6-5, then in the tiebreak she locked in and got it done for us."
Slaysman battled back again to clinch the win for the second-straight outing and wrap up ASU's weekend in historic fashion.
With the 4-3 win over Vandy, ASU moved to 4-0 in 2020, claimed one of the 15 at-large bids to the ITA Indoor Championships in February, and picked up its first win over a top-10 program since the Devils upset No. 7 California in 2011.