TEMPE, Az. - Last season, Head Coach Sheila McInerney earned National Coach of the Year honors as she guided her Sun Devils from a preseason ranking of 22nd to a final No. 7-ranking. As she enters her 14th season at the helm, McInerney has recorded top-10 finishes in nine of her 13 seasons. Ranked sixth in the preseason, expectations for the 1998 Sun Devils are high.
"Expectations are always high here at ASU." says McInerney. "But you can't get worked up about it. We traditionally play one of the toughest schedules in the country."
All five Pac-10 Southern Division opponents are ranked in the preseason top-25. And of the Sun Devils' 10 non-conference opponents, nine are ranked including No. 4 Texas and No. 10 Pepperdine. With this type of schedule the Sun Devils will not be able to relax.
"You have to make sure that you get better," says McInerney. "These kids have to play better and they have to realize that nothing is granted to you. Last year we won a couple of close matches that helped us."
Arizona State returns its top five players and has added three highly-touted freshmen. This year's Sun Devil team has the opportunity of being better than the team that finished seventh in the country a year ago. Many teams in the Pacific-10 Conference have made additions to improve their squads from the previous year.
"We should be better, but everyone in the conference will be better, without a doubt. Last year, with the exception of Stanford, the conference was a little bit weaker. UCLA was very young. They are older now and they had two very good players that transferred in. Cal is the same way. They are older and they have a couple of really good new players."
Last year all six Pac-10 South teams finished in the top 32. This year's fall rankings hold all six teams in the top-25, highlighted by No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 California and No. 8 Arizona State.
The Sun Devils will be led by three-time All-American Reka Cseresnyes, a senior who holds the ASU career record for most singles victories with 78. Cseresnyes was ranked 14th nationally and fifth regionally in the preseason polls, and has the opportunity to become the first four-time All-American in ASU women's tennis history.
"The key for Reka is to become a little bit tougher mentally," McInerney says. "I think that she is really working on that. Day-in and day-out she is going to be playing the best kids in the country. She needs to be ready to battle. If you have a bad day one day then you need to be ready to bounce back the next."
Cseresnyes had some major wins over some of the nation's top players last season including a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Stanford's then-No. 1 Katie Schlukebir of Stanford. Last season, Cseresnyes finished with a singles mark of 23-14 and received an NCAA berth. Cseresnyes is also an outstanding doubles player. She has notched a career mark of 45-29 and last season finished with a 17-10 record, including an impressive 7-3 mark with partner Kerry Giardino. An excellent student, Cseresnyes has earned All-Pac-10 Academic honors in each of her three seasons.
Senior Stephanie Lansdorp was ranked 42nd nationally and 15th regionally in the singles preseason polls and No. 6 in the country in doubles with partner Katy Propstra.
Last year Lansdorp played the No. 2 position and posted a record of 21-18 in singles and 19-12 in doubles. She earned NCAA berths in both doubles and singles for the second consecutive year.
Propstra, a junior and local product from Saguaro High School, played the No. 3 position for the Sun Devils last season. She struggled late with an injury but continued to play and helped the Sun Devils earn their ninth top-10 finish in 13 seasons. After having surgery this summer Propstra "is ahead of schedule for recovery," McInerney says. "She has worked really hard to get back. She wants to play so badly."
Propstra and partner Lansdorp were 11-4 in dual matches and earned a berth to the NCAA doubles tournament last season. That berth marked the duo's second invitation in as many seasons.
Junior Alison Nash posted a 17-13 record in singles and a 6-6 mark in doubles with partner Anna Moll last season. This fall Nash was a quarterfinalist in the ASU Fall Classic Tournament and a finalist at the Milwaukee Classic.
"Alison has come back stronger every year," says McInerney. "She is going to play an intricate part of what we do and she will have responsibilities in both singles and doubles. It will be important to us for her to have a good year."
The lone sophomore on this year's squad, Kerry Giardino, had a sensational rookie season. She led the team in victories with 26 and compiled a dual match record of 16-3. Against Pac-10 South opponents Giardino posted a record of 8-1. She finished the year 26-14 overall in singles. Along with doubles partner Cseresnyes, they notched seven victories with only three defeats in dual match play.
Giardino had a strong showing this fall at the Rolex Regional Tournament, advancing to the fourth round where she played fellow Sun Devil Cseresnyes.
"Kerry has the potential to move up in the lineup," McInerney says. "She has a big game and has gained a lot of confidence. She can't worry about her record from last year because she will be playing better people this year."
A trio of freshmen, Celena McCoury, Karin Palme and Faye DeVera, complete the 1997-98 roster.
"Faye, Karin and Celena are all talented players," says McInerney. "They are freshmen so they might be a little nervous starting out, but they will get better and better. They just have to be ready to play on the collegiate level day-in and day-out."
This year's group of players is well blended with experience and youthful enthusiasm. Each player possesses the talent to make an impact on the team and in the conference. From top to bottom this year's Sun Devils will be ready for the challenges that lie ahead.