This weekend, the ASU women's tennis team had a historic run at the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, California while the men fell in the first round of the tournament to Stanford.
Women's tennis
ASU’s historic Pac-12 Tournament run came up just short of a conference championship. Before losing to the Stanford Cardinal 4-2 in the championship match on Saturday, the Sun Devils’ had 4-3 victories over USC and Cal on Thursday and Friday in Ojai, California.
Ranked as the No. 5 team in the tournament, the Sun Devils became the lowest seed ever to reach the championship round that had the Cardinal on the ropes at the start of the match.
Senior Cali Jankowski and sophomore Marianna Argyrokastriti won the first doubles match 6-3 while senior Sedona Gallagher and sophomore Giulia Morlet saw a 5-1 lead evaporate to a 7-6 loss that put the Sun Devils down 1-0 heading into singles.
Jankowski (6-3, 6-2) and Argyrokastriti (6-4, 7-5) carried their momentum from doubles to singles competition as the only two Sun Devils to win their solo matches.
In the semifinals round, ASU clinched a walk-off victory over Cal behind a Argyrokastriti 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 singles win in straight sets.. ASU was swept in doubles, but dominated singles play with wins from Morlet, senior Domenika Turkovic, freshman Patricija Spaka, and Argyrokastriti giving the Sun Devils the victory.
In the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, ASU came back from down 3-0 to upset USC. After losing doubles and the first two singles matches, Argyrokastriti, Jankowski, Turkovic and Morlet closed out singles with wins to propel ASU into the semis.
The Sun Devils will start to prepare for the NCAA Tournament as they wait for an opponent that will be announced on May 2.
Men’s tennis
The ASU men’s tennis team wrapped up their Pac-12 conference play this weekend where they were walloped by the Stanford Cardinal 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Championships at Libbey Park in Ojai, California.
The Sun Devils kept the same trends with the Cardinal, who they faced a few weeks prior to their matchup at the championships, losing 4-1 in Tempe.
ASU simply couldn’t keep up with the Cardinals yet again with the Sun Devils only winning four sets throughout the entire match.
The doubles started and ended pretty quick with co-captains senior Fabien Salle and sophomore Max McKennon falling 6-3 to Stanford’s Axel Geller and Tomas Kopczynski.
Freshman Murphy Cassone and junior Jacob Bullard replicated the losing score against Arthur Fery and Alexandre Rotsaert to give the Cardinal the doubles point.
The singles didn’t go any better with Salle (6-3, 6-3) and Bullard (7-5, 6-3) both getting slapped in straight sets, while freshman Nicola Cigna fought to three sets but couldn’t hold on against Cardinal Sangeet Sridhar (6-4, 3-6, 6-2). Cigna’s loss clinched the sweep for Stanford.
ASU looks to get a bid in the NCAA men’s tennis championship starting on May 19 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois to end their spring season.
Reach the reporters at vdeange1@asu.edu and dstipano@asu.edu and follow @vdeangelis2024 and @dstipanovichh on Twitter.
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Vincent Deangelis is a full-time reporter for the sports department at The State Press. He has previously worked for Arizona PBS and AZPreps365.com.
