Ree Ree Li, Sherry Li and Yu Pick Up Wins
TEMPE, Ariz. – In its first of two matches in Arizona this week, the Yale women's tennis team narrowly came up short. Playing Thursday at the Whiteman Tennis Center, the home venue of No. 28 Arizona State (12-2, 1-0 Pac Sun), No. 50 Yale (4-6, 0-0 Ivy) managed to post three wins in singles, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit against the home squad after having lost the doubles point.
Though the Bulldogs secured the doubles point in their last match against No. 22 Texas on Sunday, it was the Sun Devils who got off to the better start in Thursday's encounter. Arizona State powered its way to two wins in doubles at the No. 2 and 3 spots. Yale's No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Madeleine Hamilton and classmate Ree Ree Li, ranked No. 52 in the nation, was unable to finish its match.
Despite the discouraging start, Yale showed impressive resilience in giving its higher-ranked opponent a tough test once the focus turned to singles. Freshman Sherry Li put the Sun Devils under pressure almost immediately by prevailing 6-3, 6-1 against Ebony Panoho at No. 5 singles. Junior Hanna Yu also tightened up the scoreboard with a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory of her own against Kassidy Jump. Meanwhile, however, Arizona State's top-ranked player, Stephanie Vlad, ranked No. 50 in the country, defeated Hamilton at the No. 1 spot. At No. 6 singles, Joanna Smith overcame sophomore Courtney Amos after two sets of competitive tennis.
The match came down to the wire with two more matches on court, both of which went the distance. Since they had dropped the doubles point, Yale needed to win both matches, but it was not to be as Desirae Krawczyk, ranked No. 96 in the country, handed senior captain Annie Sullivan just her second loss of the season by a 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 margin. Ree Ree Li managed to notch a win in her match, however, clinching a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback triumph against Leighann Sahagun.
Yale will return to the Whiteman Tennis Center Friday afternoon for a match against No. 64 Brigham Young (4-4, 1-0 WCC). The action is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. MST (3:00 p.m. EDT).
Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity
