SAN DIEGO, Calif. – For the first time in the regular season, the Sun Devil women's tennis team will play in back-to-back weekends, as they head west to face San Diego State (4-6, 0-0) and the University of San Diego (2-4, 0-0) on Feb. 25-26.
Due to the rescheduling of last Sunday's match against UNLV, the No. 30 Sun Devils (3-1, 0-0) have yet to get into a groove with consecutive matches, and that is something the team is looking forward to diving into.
"We were lucky to get that one match in last weekend, and I think the girls are looking forward to playing in two more matches, knock on wood with the weather, this weekend," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "It gets you into a rhythm, and I think any athlete wants that. You'd rather play matches than practice at this point."
The last time the Devils played in back-to-back matches was on Jan. 28-29 at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lubbock, Texas. Those matches both came against ranked opponents, in which the women captured an upset of then-No. 16 South Carolina.
Since 1985, ASU and coach McInerney have gone 13-3 against the Aztecs, while never losing to San Diego in 16 meetings.
The Devils took care of business when facing SDSU and the Torreros last year, shutting both of them out by a score of 7-0.
The closest USD has played ASU was a 4-3 loss on Feb. 5, 2012.
The Aztecs captured a 7-0 win over Eastern Michigan their last time out on Wednesday, Feb. 22, but was their first victory after a four-match skid.
The Torreros haven't played a match since Feb. 12, in which they fell to current-No. 9 UCLA, 5-2.
In this week's ITA rankings, which are the first computerized rankings of the season, sophomore Sammi Hampton came in at No. 72 while senior Kassidy Jump sits at No. 79. Jump climbed 22 spots while Hampton dropped 21 due to the computer. The team also fell from No. 17 to No. 30.
The doubles duo of senior Alex Osborne and junior Nicole Fossa-Huergo earned a bump from No. 41 to No. 36 this week, while junior Kelley Anderson and freshman Savannah Slaysman fell out of the top-50.
Despite the rankings, coach McInerney loves what she's seeing in doubles and expects the overall play to continue to rise with more competition.
"We've been playing pretty good doubles, so hopefully that can continue," she said. "In singles, we need to be just a little bit more consistent and get more balls in play. You go to California and the air is a bit thicker, thus the points may last a bit longer. We have to be willing to play longer points and set up our patterns."
Saturday and Sunday's match is scheduled for 12 p.m. MST.
Due to the rescheduling of last Sunday's match against UNLV, the No. 30 Sun Devils (3-1, 0-0) have yet to get into a groove with consecutive matches, and that is something the team is looking forward to diving into.
"We were lucky to get that one match in last weekend, and I think the girls are looking forward to playing in two more matches, knock on wood with the weather, this weekend," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "It gets you into a rhythm, and I think any athlete wants that. You'd rather play matches than practice at this point."
The last time the Devils played in back-to-back matches was on Jan. 28-29 at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lubbock, Texas. Those matches both came against ranked opponents, in which the women captured an upset of then-No. 16 South Carolina.
Since 1985, ASU and coach McInerney have gone 13-3 against the Aztecs, while never losing to San Diego in 16 meetings.
The Devils took care of business when facing SDSU and the Torreros last year, shutting both of them out by a score of 7-0.
The closest USD has played ASU was a 4-3 loss on Feb. 5, 2012.
The Aztecs captured a 7-0 win over Eastern Michigan their last time out on Wednesday, Feb. 22, but was their first victory after a four-match skid.
The Torreros haven't played a match since Feb. 12, in which they fell to current-No. 9 UCLA, 5-2.
In this week's ITA rankings, which are the first computerized rankings of the season, sophomore Sammi Hampton came in at No. 72 while senior Kassidy Jump sits at No. 79. Jump climbed 22 spots while Hampton dropped 21 due to the computer. The team also fell from No. 17 to No. 30.
The doubles duo of senior Alex Osborne and junior Nicole Fossa-Huergo earned a bump from No. 41 to No. 36 this week, while junior Kelley Anderson and freshman Savannah Slaysman fell out of the top-50.
Despite the rankings, coach McInerney loves what she's seeing in doubles and expects the overall play to continue to rise with more competition.
"We've been playing pretty good doubles, so hopefully that can continue," she said. "In singles, we need to be just a little bit more consistent and get more balls in play. You go to California and the air is a bit thicker, thus the points may last a bit longer. We have to be willing to play longer points and set up our patterns."
Saturday and Sunday's match is scheduled for 12 p.m. MST.