TEMPE – Coming off their first road sweep of the season, the Sun Devils look to keep the momentum going at home Saturday as they host the Loyola Marymount Lions for the first time in two decades.
"They're a good team," coach Sheila McInerney said. "I know Agustin quite well, he's a very good coach and I think they've only lost twice this year, so they're kind of on a roll. We expect a really good match."
The No. 37 Sun Devils enter Saturday's home dual with the Lions on a four-match win-streak, their joint-highest spell this season. Arizona State has also kept a goose egg in the loss column at the Whiteman Tennis Center, where they've only allowed an opponent to score a crooked number once this season.
Of ASU's six home victories this season, five have been sweeps. But home-cooking is nothing new to the Devils as they have won 43 matches at the Whiteman Tennis Center against non-conference opponents, and lost only three since 2013.
To improve that record to 44, ASU will have to get through a Lions team that comes to Tempe riding a seven-match unbeaten run that includes a smothering win at Long Beach State and a road win against ASU's last home opponent UC Santa Barbara.
ASU had to get it done in singles play the last two outings as they dropped two-straight doubles points for the first time this season, despite opening the year by taking the point in six-straight.
"We might switch things up in doubles again," McInerney said. "We were kind of living doubles by the skin of our teeth even early on against UNLV and Gonzaga. I knew even though we were winning the points, it wasn't always pretty. We'll probably keep Ilze and Lauryn together, but we might switch somebody else up and go from there."
Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh are still on a roll and have yet to drop a doubles match this season. Even in their suspended matches, the two newcomers have yet to walk off the court trailing.
No. 83 John-Baptiste kept her unbeaten streak on court one alive this weekend and recorded a crucial win against Colorado's No.1 after the Devils dropped the doubles point to the Buffaloes.
On court four, No. 115 Savannah Slaysman will look to keep her hot streak going, and behind her on court five, Sasa Klanecek will try to rebound after suffering just her first loss of the season and third of 2018.
The match with the Lions is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. PT at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe.
Rankings Update
There was no movement in the singles and doubles rankings this weekend, but as a team, the Sun Devils fell three spots despite recording a sweep of Utah and a win over Colorado on the road to open Pac-12 play.
In the conference, ASU sits at the top, boasting an undefeated conference record and 9-3 overall record. Only Washington State (1-0) and Stanford (2-0) take unblemished Pac-12 records into this weekend.
UCLA is still the highest-ranked Pac-12 squad, coming in at No. 15. Oregon jumped a spot to 20, and the ITA's computer has finally recognized the surging Cardinal of Stanford and put the defending conference champions at No. 25, up 21 spots from a week ago.
Washington State checks in two places above ASU, and the other school in Evergreen State, UW, wraps up the conference at 41.
"W"hiteman Tennis Center
This weekend, the Sun Devils return home to a place where they have only dropped three contests to non-conference opponents since 2013.
Coach Sheila McInerney's Devils are 6-0 at the Whiteman Tennis Center this season, and this weekend marks the final non-conference opponent for the Devils, but ASU still has four more home matches.
Although the Devils lost to No. 9 Pepperdine and second-ranked Ohio State last season, they went undefeated in 2016, 2014 and 2013, amassing a lopsided home record outside the Pac-12 of 43-3 in the past five seasons.
The Devils' only other loss in that time frame came in 2015 when they fell to Ohio State the first time.
In 2018, ASU hasn't given up a single point to an opponent at home since UNLV took two from the Devils back on Feb. 2.
Fearsome Sixsome
Coming into the season, coach Sheila McInerney had a roster of eight, but after a couple of key injuries, the Sun Devils have been down to six for the spring season.
Of the six women taking the court for ASU, four of them are newcomers to the squad and only one is a senior in Nicole Fossa Huergo.
True freshmen Sasa Klanecek and Lauryn John-Baptiste have been the most successful of the six this season, compiling a combined dual-match record of 16-3, with Klanecek recording a perfect record through her 10 matches, until this past weekend's loss to Colorado.
John-Baptiste has been playing on courts one and two in 2018 and has won all four of her matchups this year against ranked opponents.
Sophomore newcomer Ilze Hattingh is a part of a doubles tandem with John-Baptiste that hasn't dropped a match this season, and has helped the Sun Devils win nine doubles points in their 12 matches.
One of the two active returners, Savannah Slaysman, got off to a slow start, but has since won six of her last 10 and losing only twice in that span.
Despite having a thin squad, the Devils have won 9 of 12 and sit atop the Pac-12 standings after the first week of conference plat. They took Nos. 11 and 19 Ohio State and Oklahoma State to the wire on the road, and remain unbeaten at the Whiteman Tennis Center in 2018.
Get to Know the Lions
Hailing from the City of Angels, Loyola Marymount is led by third-year head coach Agustin Moreno, the Lions' second coach in program history.
After a sub-.500 start to his LMU career, Moreno's Lions recorded a 13-9 (5-4) record in a tough West Coast Conference in 2017, and have put together a respectable 8-2 record in 2018, with wins over UC Santa Barbara, Penn and Cal Poly among others.
His team is led by Veronica Miroschnichenko, the No. 30 singles player in the NCAA on court one.
Miroschnichenko is also one half of the No. 33 doubles tandem in the nation. She and Eva Marie Voracek have run court one for the Lions all season and have posted an 8-2 record in doubles play.
Alone, Miroschnichenko has yet to stumble, coming into the match with who is expected to be No. 83 Lauryn John-Baptiste. Both women are undefeated against ranked opponents this season with the Lion freshman sitting at 1-0, and the Sun Devil frosh at 4-0.