No. 27 Sun Devil tennis earns second conference win of the season

In a 5-2 decision, the No. 27 Arizona State Sun Devils women's tennis team defeated Utah on March 10, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"I'm very pleased with our play today. We beat a good Utah team on the road which is not easy to do," ASU head coach Sheila McInerney said. "After winning a tough doubles point I thought we came out very hungry in the singles."

Arizona State played exceptionally well in singles play, with freshman Ebony Panohoearning the first singles point, making it 2-0, at the No. 6 court in a quick two set match 6-2, 6-1. Building off of that win, senior Jacqueline Cako won swiftly on the No. 1 court 6-3, 6-2. Freshman Desirae Krawzcyk and Stephanie Vlad added two more points to the tally with their wins, Krawczyk in three sets 6-1, 6-7, 1-0 (4) and Vlad in two 7-5, 6-4.

The predominantly quick two set matches gave ASU the early lead, something that the Sun Devils have become used to in recent matches.

"Ebony (Panoho), Jacqueline (Cako) and Stephanie (Vlad) got off the court pretty quiclky which was nice," McInerney said.

It's also no surprise that Cako was on that list of first off; the senior has been playing lights out as of recent braking into the ITA Rankings at No. 88. The Sun Devil stand out has captured five of six wins in singles and doubles and two singles wins against higher ranked opponents in the past week.

This win over Utah marks the second Pac-12 victory for ASU -- it also makes the team perfect in Pac-12 play standing at 2-0.

With an almost two week break on the horizon before traveling to Oregon on March 22, the team will practice in Tempe building upon the keys that have given them success so far -- confidence, stamina and articulate play.

The two week stretch of down-time will do them well, after Oregon the team takes on seven Pac-12 opponents to round out the season, a seven game stand that will take less than a month to complete.

Arizona State 5, Utah 2

Doubles

Cako/Smith (ASU) def. Bekerova/Miles (Utah) 9-8

Panoho/Smith (ASU) def. Smith/Najer-Salas (Utah) 8-6

Pham/Craig (Utah) def. Krawczyk/Sahagun (ASU) 7-7 (ret.)

Singles

Cako (ASU) def. Bekerova (Utah) 6-3, 6-2

Krawczyk (ASU) def. Pham (Utah) 6-1, 6-7, 1-0 (4)

Craig (Utah) def. Sahagun (ASU) 7-6, 6-0

Vlad (ASU) def. Smith (Utah) 7-5, 6-4

Kovarikova def. James (ASU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

Panoho (ASU) def Miles (Utah) 6-2, 6-1