Women's tennis shows dominance in win over UCSB
The 19th ranked Sun Devils Women's tennis team sealed the opening weekend of the dual season with a dominant victory over UC Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz.
"You certainly want to get off to a good start, I think we played two pretty good teams. I think for the girls, they played better today then they did yesterday which is to be expected, you know the first match out yesterday and you're a little bit nervous," said head coach Sheila McInerney.
Arizona State secured all three of the doubles matches, with Sun Devil stand outs Jacqueline Cako and Nicole Smith defeating Natalia Lozano and Sodia Novak of UCSB 8-2. Michelle Brycki and Joanna Smith defeated Jordan Dockendorf and Kristen Meehan 8-5, while Sianna Simmons and Hannah James sealed the doubles sweep defeating Paola Cos and April Scatliffe 8-3.
Michelle Brycki, a senior with three years collegiate experience on the Sun Devil squad, and Joanna Smith, a freshman in her first year with the team, proved to be a succesful pairing by coach Sheila McInerney.
"It feels really good, I was a little bit nervous coming into it, but it's really exciting and I love the whole team aspect of it," said Joanna Smith, who also earned a victory last Saturday against UC Davis.
"It's a lot of confidence so hopefully I'll take that into next weekend and try and improve every day," said Smith.
In singles, ASU was lead by a superlative performance of the day from Jacqueline Cako defeating Sofia Novak 6-2, 6-1. Although Nicole Smithfell to April Scatlliffe 6-2, 6-2, coach McInerney was impressed with the performance.
"I'm just really happy to have Nikki back in the line up, she played good doubles and actually played pretty well today. She improved on yesterday even though she lost her singles match. For her, it's just getting in her way again since she has not played in a singles match in two years, and I thought she competed great," said McInerney
Overall as a team, the Sun Devils competed well and showed that the preseason work and tournaments have paid off.
"It's looking to get better everyday. The competition certainly gets a lot better next weekend with Texas Tech, USC, and Sacramento State. It's going to be a big week for us to really continue to build off of this weekend and get better, but I think the jitters are out with these first couple matches," said McInerney. "I think we played not to loose rather then really playing to win, and I think that is something we have to get better at if we want to continue."
No. 19 Arizona State 6, UC Santa Barbara 1
Doubles
Cako/N. Smith (ASU) def. Lozano/Novak (UCSB) 8-2
Brycki/J. Smith (ASU) def. Dockendorf/Meehan (UCSB) 8-5
Simmons/James (ASU) def. Cos/Scatliffe (UCSB) 8-3
Singles
Jacqueline Cako (ASU) def. Sofia Novak (UCSB) 6-2, 6-1
Michelle Brycki (ASU) def. Natalia Lozano (UCSB) 6-2, 6-3
Hannah James (ASU) def. Kiersten Meehan (UCSB) 6-2, 4-6 [10-6]
April Scatlliffe (UCSB) def. Nicole Smith (ASU) 6-2, 6-2
Sianna Simmons (ASU) def. Paola Cos (UCSB) 6-2, 6-2
Joanna Smith (ASU) def. Jordan Dockendorf (UCSB) 6-3, 6-2