The ASU men and women's tennis teams spent the weekend at the individual Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, California, where the men faired a bit better than the ladies and a pair of juniors nearly made the finals.
The men's team saw the doubles duo of juniors Chris Stewart and Olivier Charroin make a run to the semifinals, while the women did not have a player advance past the quarterfinals.
Stewart and Charroin lost their chance at the finals with an 8-4 loss to USC's Parker Collins and Daniel Langre.
Men
No Sun Devils made it past the second round championships.
In doubles action, senior Pim Van Mele and freshman Ryan McBride advanced to the quarterfinals, but they fell to Stanford's K.C. Corkery and James Pade 8-4.
Head coach Lou Belken was pleased with ASU's doubles performance, despite how the team fared in singles play.
"The doubles results were better than the singles," Belken said. "Both doubles teams posted their biggest wins of the year. McBride and Van Mele beating UCLA No. 1s, and Charroin and Stewart defeated the No. 2 nationally ranked team. Olivier and Chris dramatically helped their chances for NCAA doubles selection."
Freshman Chris Letcher and Charroin picked up a few wins in the back draw of the singles bracket Saturday. Letcher was trailing in his first set against Thomas Bieri of Oregon but picked up the next two sets to steal the match.
Charroin also experienced some of the winning action, this time against California's Kevin Patrick with a 6-0, 6-2 victory. Stewart did not play well because of his on-going battle with the tendonitis in both knees and lost his singles match.
Overall, Belken was pleased with how the Sun Devils played and thinks they will be ready for regionals.
"The team is getting healthier and the physical emphasis of practice will intesify the next two weeks," Belken said. "NCAA selection will be on Wednesday and we are anxious to see our pairing."
Women
The lady Sun Devils had a much tougher time at the Pac-10s. Just two Sun Devils advanced to the quarterfinals, but were unable to advance to the next round.
Senior Adria Engel had a full day, playing doubles and singles. Unfortunately, her singles game took a tougher road with a meeting with Arizona's Maja Mlakar. Mlakar never gave Engel the chance to get in the game and defeated her 7-5, 6-4.
Engel felt she could have beaten Mlakar and that the match was a learning experience.
"I don't think I played as well as a I could have. I should have gone farther," Engel said. "I didn't play my game; she played well, but I allowed her to play well. I should have done something different. I learned from this game."
Sophomore Joslynn Burkett played in the invitational singles bracket and also suffered a tough loss to Jody Scheldt of California, who won with a consistent 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles action, Washington defeated both of ASU's doubles teams. Engel and junior Lauren Colalillo lost a close 8-5 match to Huskies Colleen Gray and Dea Sumantri. Also, the Husky duo of Claire Carter and Darija Klaic swept Sun Devil juniors Cindy Sureephong and senior Mhairi Brown, 8-4.
Engel also said her doubles tandem should have made it past the quarterfinals.
"I don't think we did bad, but we could have done better," Engel said
Up next for ASU tennis is regionals May 9-11. Both teams are waiting to find out where their tournaments will be held.
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Reach the reporter at kelley.karnes@asu.edu.
