TEMPE – With the fifth-longest NCAA Championships appearance streak still in tact, coach Sheila McInerney leads her youthful Sun Devil squad to the Peach State for the Athens regional where Wake Forest awaits them in the first round.
This will be just the second time in program history the Demon Deacons and Sun Devils have met on the hard court, and the first time they've done so in the NCAA tournament. ASU won the first and only meeting 12 years ago 4-3 at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Plenty has changed since the squads' last meeting. The Devils have advanced to 11 more NCAA Championships, the Deacons have switched coaches and ASU cut and revived the men's tennis program during the decade-plus hiatus between matches.
ASU heads into the second installment after being eliminated in the Pac-12 semifinal in a good showing against regional host UCLA. Wake suffered a similar fate two weeks ago as they couldn't hold on against eventual ACC champions North Carolina in the quarterfinal round.
WOMEN'S TENNIS CONSECUTIVE NCAA APPEARANCES
UCLA, 37
Stanford, 37
Florida, 36
Georgia, 32
Arizona State, 31
Pepperdine, 31
All four of the teams are playing for a coveted seed in the NCAA Championships, but Wake Forest is also playing for a trip home as the Deacons host this year's men's and women's championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Court one doubles will be the marquee matchup of the day as No. 12 John-Baptiste/Hattingh will take on Wake's No. 15 Davis/Carter, a clash of two NCAA Doubles Championship-bound pairings.
The Sun Devil pair has only lost once this season, but their sole defeat was avenged when they beat the same duo in the Pac-12 semifinal round to improve to a remarkable 17-1 on the season. Davis/Carter have lost five times this year, but the duo boasts 19 wins with seven coming in the ACC.
Prior to both team's losses in their respective conference tournaments, ASU had won five of their last six to close the regular season, and Wake had won just one of their previous six.
The winner of Friday's match will face the winner of the match between No. 8 Georgia and Georgia State Sunday.
ASU and Wake Forest hit the hard courts this Friday at 9 a.m. PT. Live stats and a live stream of the match will be available on the host's website, and @sundevilwtennis will have live updates on Twitter.
Rankings Update
The Arizona State Sun Devils head into the NCAA Championships ranked No. 37 in the nation.
They'll be the three-seed out in Athens, Georgia, behind No. 8 and host Georgia, and Friday's opponent No. 29 Wake Forest.
Among the Pac-12 neighborhood, UCLA and Pac-12 champion Stanford come in at No. 14 and 15, respectively, and Oregon checks in at No. 33. Behind ASU are Washington and Washington State at 43 and 44, and Southern California at No. 50.
Individually, Lauryn John-Baptiste is the 66th-ranked singles player in the country, but the true freshman is listed as an alternate for the 64-person NCAA Singles Championships set to take place after the team championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina later this month.
John-Baptiste will participate in the doubles version of the championships with teammate Ilze Hattingh. They combine to make the 12th-ranked doubles duo in the nation.
Last Time Out
Two weeks ago at the Pac-12 Championships, Arizona State advanced to the conference semifinal round before being knocked out of the tournament by No. 14 UCLA 4-1.
Before the defeat, in the quarterfinal round, ASU earned its second win over Southern California this season when they toppled the Trojans 4-2.
The Devils took the doubles point, then got wins from Ilze Hattingh, Savannah Slaysman and Nicole Fossa Huergo to clinch the win. It was Fossa Huergo's team-leading third clinch in conference play.
While ASU fell to UCLA the next day, the Devils showed fight as they took a point from the Bruins in doubles play thanks to a big upset on court one from then No. 15 John-Baptiste/Hattingh. They duo defeated No. 7 Fleming/Hart less than a month after the same pairing gave the ASU No. 1 their first lost of the season.
Double Trouble
With a relatively young team consisting of three freshmen and two sophomores, the 2018 Sun Devil squad has found leadership and consistency outside of its lone senior Nicole Fossa Huergo from a pair of newcomers.
Playing on courts two and one for the entire season, Ilze Hattingh and Lauryn John-Baptiste have combined to not only clinch six of the Devils' 15 wins, but also as a tandem had one of the most prolific debut seasons in ASU history.
The duo began the season unranked and playing on court two, but the NCAA has taken notice as the young Devils have accumulated 16 wins and just one loss and are now in position to make the NCAA Doubles Championships as they sit ranked 12th in the nation in the Oracle/ITA Rankings.
They are the joint-youngest tandem in the top-20 as there are only three sophomore/freshman pairings among the elite of the NCAA.
John-Baptiste/Hattingh secured a place in the NCAA Doubles Championships scheduled for later this month. It's the seventh time in the past decade the Devils have sent a representative to the tournament.
A Look Back
ASU was eliminated in the round of 64 in last year's NCAA Championships as the Devils fell to the Seminoles of Florida State in Auburn, Alabama, 4-2.
The Sun Devils went into singles play down 1-0 after they dropped the doubles point with losses on one and two.
Kelley Anderson evened things up at one-apiece, then Savannah Slaysman gave the Devils their first and only lead of the match as FSU would win three more straight to take the match and advance to the round of 32 where they would fall to host Auburn, 4-2.