Doubles Shines for #30 Women’s Tennis Against #3 Stanford

Box Score TEMPE, Ariz.-  No. 30 Arizona State (7-5, 0-1 Pac-12) put up a hard fight in Friday’s conference opener against reigning Pac-12 Tournament champion No. 3 Stanford (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12). ASU collected a pair of doubles wins to take an early lead, but the Cardinal pulled away from the Sun Devils in singles with a 4-1 victory. 

“I think are doubles are getting better, I think we’ve played quite good in the doubles in the last few matches, Oklahoma State, Ohio State,” head coach Sheila McInerney said. “Then in the singles, Stanford’s tough. Stanford has a very deep team, you really got to earn your points against them.”

ASU started strong, pushing all three doubles matches to a tiebreak for the second time this season. The first occasion was on February 17 against another top-ranked opponent, No. 1 Oklahoma State. On Friday, the Sun Devils won the best-of-three opening doubles match to take a 1-0 lead over the Cardinal. The tandem of sophomore Chelsea Fontenel and junior Patricija Spaka on court one and senior Rachel Hanford and freshman Sara Svetac on court two both rallied from 3-1 and 5-4 deficits to even their matches at 6-6. Both partners raced ahead in their tiebreak to win 7-6 (7-2) and clinch the doubles point. 

In singles, Stanford pulled even with the Sun Devils after their court four victory. The Cardinal won on court two to take a 2-1 lead and clinched the match with victories on courts five and three.

No. 3 Stanford 4, No. 30 Arizona State 1

DOUBLES

1. Chelsea Fontenel/Patricija Spaka def. No. 54 Connie Ma/ Alexandra Yepifanova (Stanford), 7-6 (7-2)
2. Rachel Hanford/Sara Svetac def. No. 60 Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina (Stanford), 7-6 (7-2)
3.  Katherine Hui/Valencia Xu (Stanford) def. Marianna Argyrokastriti/Emilija Tverijonaite, 7-6 (7-2)
   
   Order of Finish: 2,3,1

SINGLES

1. Chelsea Fontenel vs. No. 26 Angelica Blake (Stanford), 7-5, 0-4 (unfinished)
2. No. 15 Connie Ma (Stanford) def. Marianna Argyrokastriti, 6-0, 6-3
3. No. 38 Alexandra Yepifanova (Stanford) def. No. 103 Emilija Tverijonaite, 6-4, 6-4
4. No. 86 Alexis Blokhina (Stanford) def. Sara Svetac, 6-1, 6-3
5. Katherine Hui (Stanford) def. Patricia Spaka, 6-4, 6-2
6. Rachel Hanford vs. Valencia Xu (Stanford), 7-5, 2-2 (unfinished)
   
   Order of Finish: 4, 2, 5, 3, 1*, 6*

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