TEMPE -- After a rollercoaster of emotions over the weekend -- from upsetting No. 23 UCLA in Los Angeles for the first time since 2000 to the end of the 10-game winning streak at No. 24 USC -- the Arizona State women's tennis team wraps up the regular season with a Territorial Cup showdown on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m. PT.
"You've got to be excited for it," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "You have to embrace the rivalry for sure. I think it's more of an excitement than a pressure. I think our teams in the past have always done that -- they've embraced the rivalry and playing U of A. You're nervous like any match, but think you're more excited than nervous to be honest."
The past has certainly shown that under McInerney, as her Sun Devil squads have gone 19-6 against Arizona since 2000. She has been nearly perfect at home at 11-2, while holding an 8-4 record down south. However, the last time the Devils came away victorious in Tucson was in 2010.
This year the Territorial Cup point will be up for grabs at the Robson Tennis Center in Tucson. However, ending streaks hasn't been anything of a daunting task for the No. 22 Sun Devils this season, as they've seemed to embrace that pressure more than anything as McInerney said.
Preparation has been a part of that success and continuing that is something coach McInerney has faith in to push them as far as they want to go down the stretch.
"Obviously it's an important match, but I also think at this time of the year it's been a long season," said McInerney. "The kids are a little bit tired and you have to really manage how much you're practicing. We cut down on the practice and the intensity of it. That helps, but I think it's always looking to get better and taking care of the matches no matter what happens. Then you can live with the consequences."
Doubles have been lights out for the Devils this season, with their only recent hiccup being their loss to the Trojans on Sunday. Even with that, they still have won 18 of their 21 doubles points, including the all-important uncharacteristic point to win the match against UCLA at the end on Friday night.
The duo of Ebony Panoho and Alex Osborne have been a detrimental part of that success, as the newly ranked No. 18 pair have created several upsets this season. After taking down the then-No. 3 pairs of Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox of Pepperdine in February and then-No. 3 and current-No. 4 Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle of Stanford, the pair upset No. 5 Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips of UCLA this past weekend.
Flying under the radar is No. 74 combo of Kassidy Jump and Sammi Hampton playing on court three. Before their loss to USC's Jessica Failla and Rianna Valdes, they had won 15-straight and hadn't lost since Jan. 23 against Northwestern. They'll look to get back to their winning ways to end the regular season.
In singles, No. 26 Krawczyk will look to get her 95th singles victory as a Sun Devil against the Wildcats and will have to do so against No. 48 Lauren Marker.
Senior Stephanie Vlad and junior Gussie O'Sullivan are both on winning streaks still, with Vlad at six and O'Sullivan at seven with four unfinished matches mixed in between.
The match starts on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT in Tucson and live stats can be followed here.