Senior Jacqueline Cako serves the ball during ASU's home meet vs. UCLA on April 6. The Sun Devils are currently riding a four-game losing streak after winning 15 of their first 16 regular season matches. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)Sometimes, scores can be deceiving and numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
Such was the case for ASU’s women’s tennis team. The No. 21 Sun Devils (15-5, 5-4 Pac-12) lost their fourth straight conference match to No. 13 Stanford (16-3, 8-1 Pac-12) 6-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Leighann Sahagun and seniors Hannah James and Jacqueline Cako all lost in matches that were closer than a stat sheet would indicate.
James fell to Stanford senior Stacey Tan, a finalist in the NCAA singles championship in 2011, in a tough three-set match 6-3, 4-6, 4-6.
“I thought Hannah was kind of the performer of the day,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “Tan, two years ago, was the NCAA finalist, and I thought Hannah was tooth and nail with her.”
Sahagun didn’t have things any easier, facing off against Stanford freshman Krista Hardebeck, who was ranked as high as No. 2 in the ITA singles rankings earlier in the season.
In both sets, Sahagun was able to get early leads but couldn’t quite hold on to them. At one point in her second set, Sahagun had a 3-0 lead but Hardebeck was able to battle back.
No. 15 Hardebeck is the second top-20 opponent Sahagun has had to play in the last two days, also falling to No. 5 Cal sophomore Zsofi Susanyi on Friday.
As close as she’s been, the lack of success against the country’s top players is getting on Sahagun’s nerves.
“It’s so frustrating,” Sahagun said. “I’ve played four girls in a row that are in the top players in the country, and I’ve come so close, and I’ve come up short every single time.
“I haven’t lost any confidence in myself because I’m competing with the best in the country, it’s just so annoying, because I can’t get it,” Sahagun finished with a slight giggle of exasperation.
In what was the marquee match of the day, Cako faced defending NCAA singles champion junior Nicole Gibbs.
““I knew it was going to be a battle when the first two games lasted, I don’t know, like 20-some minutes,” Cako said. “It could have gone either way throughout that match.”
The first two games were marathons, going from deuce to advantage and back to deuce many times. Both game points lasted for what seemed like an eternity just to decide the final point in the game.
After dropping the first two long games, it was a relief for Cako to win the third one.
“It was so frustrating to lose them too and then finally, the third one I was like ‘Yes! Finally won a long game, thank God,'” Cako said.
Those three games would set the tempo for the match, with Gibbs just being able to edge out Cako 6-4, 7-5.
While McInerney was pleased with the singles play overall, doubles was a different story.
“I don’t think we really felt good about the passion and energy level we came out with in the doubles,” McInerney said. “That was disappointing, we talked about it after yesterday but still wasn’t really pleased with our doubles.”
The Sun Devils will have a chance to improve their doubles on Saturday on senior night against rival UA.
Results
Doubles
1.) Kristie Ahn/Gibbs def. Cako/Nicole Smith: 8-3
2.) Ellen Tsay/Tan def. Joanna Smith/Ebony Panoho: 8-3
3.) Natalie Dillon/Hardebeck def. Desirae Krawczyk/Sahagun: 7-4
Singles
1.) Gibbs def. Cako: 6-4, 7-5
2.) Ahn def. Krawczyk: 6-0, 6-0
3.) Hardebeck def. Sahagun: 6-4, 7-5
4.) Tan def. James: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5.) Tsay def. Joanna Smith: 6-1, 6-1
6.) Panoho def. Dillon: 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EricSmith_SP
