TEMPE -- Head coach Sheila McInerney and the Arizona State women's tennis team open up their 29th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. AZ against No. 35 North Carolina State at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Ala.
The four team regional includes the No. 23 Devils (17-5), NC State (15-11), No. 11 Auburn (22-7) and SWAC Champion Alcorn State (10-13). ASU has not faced any of the three teams this season, but have played common opponents.
"NC State had a good year and had some good wins," said McInerney. "The top of their lineup is very strong -- they have a couple of good transfers. It's like anything at this time of the year -- you're going to have to play well. It's not so much about your opponent as it is just going out there and doing the things you do well. That's what we're looking for."
One x-factor of playing in Alabama is the mix of heat and humidity in May. While the Devils know the heat, the humidity will create another variable.
"We'll get there a couple days early to get used to the conditions," said McInerney. "That's probably for us a pretty big factor. It's going to be warm and humid, so we'll hit on Wednesday and Thursday to get used to the conditions and be ready to go on Friday.
"This time of the year is exciting. It's one and done and you go out there and leave it all on the court and hopefully good things will happen."
One variable that has favored the women all year is their doubles performance, as they've won 19 points in their 22 matches. Their only losses came to No. 2 Cal, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 30 Northwestern in the first match of the season.
"We just need to do the basics well -- serve well and return well," said McInerney. "If we do that in the doubles and play solid, good things will happen. We never look at getting the first point on the board at all, because I think that's a way of looking too far ahead. It's just a matter of taking care of business and doing the basics well."
The Devils feature Pac-12 Doubles Champions Ebony Panoho and Alexandra Osborne -- ranked No. 15 -- as well as the Pac-12 Invitational Doubles' runner-up pair of Kassidy Jump and Sammi Hampton.
In singles, Krawczyk -- ranked No. 35 -- will likely face No. 45 Martina Frantova on court one. Frantova is 0-6 against top-40 opponents during the regular season.
As a team, the Wolfpack went 5-10 against ranked opponents, with victories over No. 66 Boston College, No. 26 Wake Forest, No. 43 Notre Dame, No. 25 Syracuse and No. 38 William and Mary.
In common opponents, both the Devils and NC State defeated Long Beach State and Notre Dame, while losing to No. 8 Pepperdine. ASU lost a nail biter, 4-3, while the Wolfpack was shutout 7-0.
In 2015, the Devils advanced to the second round before being knocked out by Oklahoma State in a close match, 4-3. ASU has not advanced past the second round since 2004.
This makes it the 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Sun Devils under McInerney in her 32 seasons.