Morlet’s Return Spoiled by 6-1 Loss at No. 42 Cal

BERKELEY, Calif. – Back in the Sun Devil lineup for the first time since mid-February was junior Giulia Morlet, the Sun Devils’ top singles player over the last two seasons who was nursing a foot injury since mid-February. Despite the welcomed sight, the Sun Devils (12-4, 2-2) couldn’t solve No. 42 Cal (6-6, 3-2) on Friday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

After grabbing the opening doubles point, the Golden Bears tacked on five of six singles matches to down the Sun Devils, 6-1.

Marianna Argyrokastriti was the lone Sun Devil scorer, adding her team-high 14th singles win of the season to top Cal’s Valentina Ivanov in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

It snapped the Sun Devils’ two-match win streak against Cal, both of which occurred last spring, with the latter coming in the Pac-12 Championship semifinal match.

DOUBLES

1. #15 Jessica Alsola/Katja Wiersholm (Cal) def. #18 Domenika Turkovic/Patricija Spaka (ASU), 6-2
2. Haley Giavara/Valentina Ivanov (Cal) def. Giulia Morlet/Sedona Gallagher (ASU), 6-2
3. Chelsea Fontenel/Marianna Argyrokastriti (ASU) vs. Berta Passola Folch/Erin Richardson (Cal), 5-3 (unfinished) 

Order of finish: 2, 1

Back at full strength with Morlet in the lineup, the Sun Devils shuffled freshman Chelsea Fontenel to singles Court 2. The rookie Fontenel was terrific in filling in for Morlet atop the Sun Devil lineup, playing there for the past five matches.

SINGLES

1.  #40 Jessica Alsola (Cal) def. #93 Giulia Morlet (ASU), 6-1, 6-2

2.  Haley Giavara (Cal) def. #125 Chelsea Fontenel (ASU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-4

3. Katja Wiersholm (ASU) def. Domenika Turkovic (ASU), 6-1, 6-4

4. Marianna Argyrokastriti (ASU) def. Valentina Ivanov (Cal), 6-2, 6-3

5. Berta Passola Folch (Cal) def. Sedona Gallagher (ASU), 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-2

6. Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal) def. Rachel Hanford (ASU), 6-2, 6-2

Order of finish: 1, 4, 3, 6, 2, 5

MATCHES VS. PAC-12 OPPONENTS THIS SEASON

Sunday, March 5 vs. Oregon (W, 4-0)

Friday, March 17 at Washington (L, 4-1)

Sunday, March 19 at Washington State (W, 7-0)

Friday, March 31 at Cal (L, 6-1)

Saturday, April 1 at Stanford

Friday, April 7 vs. USC

Saturday, April 8 vs. UCLA

Friday, April 14 vs. Colorado

Saturday, April 15 vs. Utah

Saturday, April 22 at Arizona

UP NEXT

The Sun Devils will conclude their brief visit to Northern California when they head to Stanford…