Arizona’s streak of disappointing matches against ASU continued Saturday as the Wildcats lost 6-1 in Tempe on Saturday. The loss marked the Wildcats’ sixth straight loss to ASU.
There wasn’t much Arizona could do to avoid the loss, said UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez.
“”We got beat up pretty good. There was kind of a good old-fashioned street mugging on some of the courts,”” he said. “”The ASU girls played pretty strong, and that made it tough on everybody.””
One factor that played into ASU’s victory was the absence of UA senior Kasia Jakowlew. A shoulder injury kept Jakowlew out of the lineup. The same injury also kept her out of Arizona’s home matches against USC and UCLA April 6-7.
“”She’s becoming more confident and more comfortable executing a slightly different game plan out on the court and it’s really paying off for her.””
– Brian Ramirez,
UA assistant coach
Because of her absence, freshman Natalia Toporowska, and junior Camelia Todorova, were moved up a position in the singles lineup. Senior Jessie Rochefort also stepped in at the No. 5 position despite only playing in one singles match this season prior to Saturday because of an ankle injury.
Freshman Katie Orletsky said the last-minute changes were hard on the Wildcats.
“”Not having Kasia and having everyone play up a spot just made things a little tougher.,”” she said. “”None of the matches were really close, so it wasn’t like ‘If these couple points went well, then we’d have it.'””
The only player to pick up a point for the Wildcats was the only one who avoided the lineup changes. Sophomore Danielle Steinberg defeated ASU’s Sabrina Capannolo 7-5, 6-2 at the No. 1 position. The victory was Steinberg’s second of the year against Capannolo. In the their previous meeting, Steinberg won by a similar score of 7-6(2), 6-2.
“”Danielle has been playing better,”” Ramirez said. “”The second half of the season has been really strong for her.
“”She’s becoming more confident and more comfortable executing a slightly different game plan out on the court, and it’s really paying off for her.””
The No. 3 doubles team of Orletsky and Toporowska picked up Arizona’s only other win on the day.
The win didn’t come easy, as the Wildcats had to go into a tiebreaker. The pair outlasted ASU’s Rebecca Rankin and Laila Abdala to take the match 9-8 (6).
Despite how Arizona got beat, Ramirez said he doesn’t expect the loss to affect the Wildcats’ confidence.
“”Some girls did a really good job, and others struggled a little,”” he said. “”But whenever you play a match, you’re going to have that.””
