The ASU women’s tennis team rolled past NAU on Friday and Pacific on Sunday in Tempe, allowing only one point throughout the weekend.
That one point the No. 20 Sun Devils (5-1) gave up was to the Lumberjacks, 6-1, but it was followed by a 7-0 sweep of the Tigers.
“I thought we played quite well against Pacific,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “We certainly were the better team. We went out there, took care of business and got the job done.”
On Sunday, the Sun Devils started the sweep by winning all three doubles matches against Pacific (2-3).
ASU senior Micaela Hein and freshman Jacqueline Cako started it off by defeating Pacific senior Jenifer Widjaja and sophomore Julia Hansen (8-2).
Then ASU senior Ashlee Brown and junior Sianna Simmons took an 8-2 win over Pacific junior Sarah Irvin and freshman Shabby Eslami, while senior Kelcy McKenna and sophomore Hannah James paired up to beat Pacific senior Olga Gumenyuk and freshman Susan Te (8-1.)
“I thought all of our doubles played well,” McInerney said. “We came out playing well and being aggressive.”
McKenna didn’t play against NAU (2-5) due to a sore shoulder and wasn’t planning to play against Pacific. But when junior Michelle Brycki showed up with a swollen knee, McKenna had to step up to play for the Sun Devils.
“Kelcy [McKenna] has had a bad shoulder and she wasn’t supposed to play today, but we had to play Kelcy [McKenna],” McInerney said. “She was a trooper.”
McKenna struggled in her singles match against Widjaja, losing the first set 2-6, but she rallied back with a 6-4 win in the second set and then won the tiebreaker (10-8).
“Jenifer [Widjaja] played really well,” McKenna said. “She was making me move a lot and it was tough.”
In the match against NAU, the Sun Devils won the doubles point with two out of three wins.
ASU senior Micaela Hein and ASU freshman Jacqueline Cako were the only doubles team to lose, 8-7 (5), to NAU seniors Edit Suhajda and Orsi Golovics.
Then five Sun Devils were victorious in singles play.
Cako played in the No. 1 spot and defeated Suhajda in singles (6-2, 6-1), while Hein defeated Golovics (6-2, 6-0).
James beat sophomore Malia Wahinepio (6-0, 6-2), Brown swept senior Aimee Oki (6-0, 6-0), and Brycki defeated senior Yumi Hasegawa (6-2, 6-4) to cinch the match for the Sun Devils.
NAU sophomore Nicole Perez scored the only point for the Lumberjacks when she beat Simmons (2-6, 3-6).
Reach the reporter at nicole.klauss@asu.edu
