TEMPE, Ariz. -- Rewards have been a consistent inspiration in Kassidy Jump's tennis career.
"When I was 4, 5 and 6, my coach would say, 'if you win, you get a candy bar,'" Jump said. "Candy was a big motivating factor."
When Jump was 9, she played her first tournament and "got crushed," 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1.
"The first girl that beat me was really mean to me so right after that I went to my coach and I said 'I don't ever want that to happen again,'" Jump said.
When the Sun Devils lost key seniors Desirae Krawczyk, Ebony Panoho and Stephanie Vlad to graduation, Jump knew she had the opportunity to move to Court 1 and become ASU's top singles player this season. She has seized that opportunity.
The senior holds a 20-13 record in singles this season and has scored victories over then-No. 27 Carol Zi Yang of UNLV on March 22; then-No. 23 Gabby Smith of USC on April 15; and No. 37 Jessica Failla of USC on April 27 in the first round of the Pac-12 Championships.
Jump has been playing her best tennis as the season progresses. On March 7, with a little over a month to play, Jump was just inside the top 100 at No. 97. She proceeded to win five of her next nine matches with just one loss -- two went unfinished -- and vaulted 36 spots to No. 61 in the ITA Rankings. Her play earned her a spot in the NCAA Singles Championships, which begin May 24 in Athens, Georgia. It's Jump's first selection into the individual tournament.
"I thinks she's made steady progress all four years," coach Sheila McInerney said. "She started out as our No. 5 player, then moved up to No. 3 her sophomore year, and last year she was No. 2, so it was really sort of the next step for Kassidy.
"She's got the game to play on Court 1. She hits a big ball, she's a ball striker and she's very competitive. For Kassidy, it's been about being consistent enough; getting enough balls back."
As she has done with every other goal in life, Jump identified two areas of her game that needed improvement if she was going to hang with the nation's best collegiate singles players: her serve and her forehand.
Then she went to work.
"I think a lot of people know I like to dictate with my backhand because I feel more comfortable with it so it was about getting out of that comfort zone," she said. "I've gotten a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident with my forehand by working on it and I've started to dictate a little more with it."
The serve was a greater challenge for Jump because it was largely mental.
"I used to double fault a lot and when you do that it makes you lose confidence; it makes you more nervous that you're going to double fault more," she said.
Jump started working with her own sports psychologist a few years ago and the pair worked specifically on her serve.
"When I got it in, it was a good serve so I just focused more on the basics: keeping my motion fluid, using my legs when I jumped up and it has really helped."
McInerney believes Jump's competitive nature has also fueled her improvement.
"You can double fault a few times a game if you're on court No. 5 and get away with it, but she's got all the eyes on her now while she's out there playing and she's taken a lot more pride in being on that front court," McInerney said. "Some kids would rather be on Court 32, far away from the spotlight. Others want to be on the front court, and that's Kassidy. She has a lot of spunk to her and she enjoys playing on the first court. I think people like watching her, too, because she's a big hitter, she's got some charisma to her and she competes hard."
Jump has faced four top-10 players – three of which earned automatic NCAA bids – this season, and a total of 21 ranked players out of her 32 total matches. Jump believes that level of competition has prepared her for the NCAA Tournament.
After the Sun Devils concluded their team season, Jump -- now ranked No. 51 -- begun to refocus as she knew her season would continue at the individual championships.
"My first goal was to get into the tournament so now it's one match at a time," she said. "I know that being an All-American is on the line, which is something I really want to be. Whoever I get drawn to play, I'm going to be ready."
Jump found on Tuesday she will face Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, ranked No. 58, on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT. When the Devils took on the Red Raiders earlier this season, Jump's doubles teammate Sammi Hampton took on Maltby on court 2, winning the match in three sets.
Fans can follow Jump's match or watch on the University of Georgia's livestream here.
"When I was 4, 5 and 6, my coach would say, 'if you win, you get a candy bar,'" Jump said. "Candy was a big motivating factor."
When Jump was 9, she played her first tournament and "got crushed," 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1.
"The first girl that beat me was really mean to me so right after that I went to my coach and I said 'I don't ever want that to happen again,'" Jump said.
When the Sun Devils lost key seniors Desirae Krawczyk, Ebony Panoho and Stephanie Vlad to graduation, Jump knew she had the opportunity to move to Court 1 and become ASU's top singles player this season. She has seized that opportunity.
The senior holds a 20-13 record in singles this season and has scored victories over then-No. 27 Carol Zi Yang of UNLV on March 22; then-No. 23 Gabby Smith of USC on April 15; and No. 37 Jessica Failla of USC on April 27 in the first round of the Pac-12 Championships.
Jump has been playing her best tennis as the season progresses. On March 7, with a little over a month to play, Jump was just inside the top 100 at No. 97. She proceeded to win five of her next nine matches with just one loss -- two went unfinished -- and vaulted 36 spots to No. 61 in the ITA Rankings. Her play earned her a spot in the NCAA Singles Championships, which begin May 24 in Athens, Georgia. It's Jump's first selection into the individual tournament.
"I thinks she's made steady progress all four years," coach Sheila McInerney said. "She started out as our No. 5 player, then moved up to No. 3 her sophomore year, and last year she was No. 2, so it was really sort of the next step for Kassidy.
"She's got the game to play on Court 1. She hits a big ball, she's a ball striker and she's very competitive. For Kassidy, it's been about being consistent enough; getting enough balls back."
As she has done with every other goal in life, Jump identified two areas of her game that needed improvement if she was going to hang with the nation's best collegiate singles players: her serve and her forehand.
Then she went to work.
"I think a lot of people know I like to dictate with my backhand because I feel more comfortable with it so it was about getting out of that comfort zone," she said. "I've gotten a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident with my forehand by working on it and I've started to dictate a little more with it."
The serve was a greater challenge for Jump because it was largely mental.
"I used to double fault a lot and when you do that it makes you lose confidence; it makes you more nervous that you're going to double fault more," she said.
Jump started working with her own sports psychologist a few years ago and the pair worked specifically on her serve.
"When I got it in, it was a good serve so I just focused more on the basics: keeping my motion fluid, using my legs when I jumped up and it has really helped."
McInerney believes Jump's competitive nature has also fueled her improvement.
"You can double fault a few times a game if you're on court No. 5 and get away with it, but she's got all the eyes on her now while she's out there playing and she's taken a lot more pride in being on that front court," McInerney said. "Some kids would rather be on Court 32, far away from the spotlight. Others want to be on the front court, and that's Kassidy. She has a lot of spunk to her and she enjoys playing on the first court. I think people like watching her, too, because she's a big hitter, she's got some charisma to her and she competes hard."
Jump has faced four top-10 players – three of which earned automatic NCAA bids – this season, and a total of 21 ranked players out of her 32 total matches. Jump believes that level of competition has prepared her for the NCAA Tournament.
After the Sun Devils concluded their team season, Jump -- now ranked No. 51 -- begun to refocus as she knew her season would continue at the individual championships.
"My first goal was to get into the tournament so now it's one match at a time," she said. "I know that being an All-American is on the line, which is something I really want to be. Whoever I get drawn to play, I'm going to be ready."
Jump found on Tuesday she will face Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, ranked No. 58, on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT. When the Devils took on the Red Raiders earlier this season, Jump's doubles teammate Sammi Hampton took on Maltby on court 2, winning the match in three sets.
Fans can follow Jump's match or watch on the University of Georgia's livestream here.