TEMPE – After a perfect start to the season with three-straight wins in the friendly confines of the Whiteman Tennis Center, the Sun Devil women's tennis team travels across the country to Columbia, South Carolina, for a couple of ITA Kickoff Weekend matchups with Wake Forest, and South Carolina or California.
The Sun Devils are fairly familiar with the Demon Deacons who eliminated ASU from the NCAA Tournament a season ago in Athens, Georgia, by a score of 4-2.
Wake brings three ranked women to the courts in Columbia, including No. 44 Emma Davis, who clinched the match for Wake Forest on court one in the previous meeting.
Although the Demon Deacons also field three viable doubles tandems that are ranked in the top-50, ASU has an advantage in the rankings on court one with No. 8 John-Baptiste/Hattingh. Last time out, the court one matchup produced a thriller that eventually went the way of the Black and Gold and was John-Baptiste/Hattingh's second loss of the season in their first year together.
ASU is expecting to get sophomore Sasa Klanecek back for this weekend's kickoff. The Slovenian international sat out in singles play during the opening homestand, and her absence provided an a chance to several newcomers to put on the pitchfork for the first time.
Samantha Alicea was a mainstay in the lineup on court five for the entire weekend, and Julia Fisch and Grace Koester both earned wins on court six on opening day.
Overall, Tereza Kolarova had the ideal start to the season, claiming three wins in three appearances over opponents from UC Davis, Drake and NAU. Savannah Slaysman picked up two match-clinching wins and both Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh earned a sole win in singles, but the All-American duo leads the team in doubles wins with two.
The winner between ASU and Wake Forest will take on the winner of No. 14 and host South Carolina and California.
Live streaming will be available on the South Carolina YouTube page, and live results will be available on the SC website.
Follow @SunDevilWTennis for live updates and go to thesundevils.com after each match for a recap of the days.
Rankings Update
Defending national champion Stanford debuted at No. 1 in the first poll of 2019, and even though the Cardinal have yet to play a dual match in the new year, the Pac-12 powerhouse still held on at the top spot in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings.
Only two Pac-12 teams earned top-25 nods in this week's poll as UCLA came in at No. 8.
The American, the SEC and the ACC make up 15 of the 25 spots with the ACC leading all conferences with seven programs.
Most of the top-10 stayed the same after the first week of competition with only No. 9 Michigan and 10th-ranked Oklahoma State swapping positions. Elsewhere in the top-25, Illinois made the biggest jump in the poll, improving three spots to No. 18, and Central Florida had the biggest drop as the Knights fell two spots to 22.
The doubles and singles rankings will be updated next month. Until then, the All-American duo of John-Baptiste/Hattingh remains at No. 8 in the nation and only Cali Jankowski is ranked in singles play for the Devils.
Last Time Out
The Sun Devils opened the season with three home wins over UC Davis, Drake and Northern Arizona.
All three matches were sweeps, including a 5-0 win over in-state rival and Big Sky champion NAU to close out the weekend homestand.
Tereza Kolarova had a perfect weekend of competition and was the only Sun Devil to complete and win all three of her matches over the weekend.
Savannah Slaysman secured two of the wins for the Devils by earning the fourth team point against UC Davis in the first match of the season and NAU to close out the holiday weekend.
Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh took turns at the No. 1 singles position, but both only managed to take wins in their matches on court two as the dual match was wrapped up before they had a chance to finish on one.
In doubles, however, the duo continued their winning ways, going unbeaten on the weekend with two wins.
A Look Back – ITA Kickoff 2018
At last season's ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Sun Devils nearly knocked off the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in Stillwater before handling a top-25 TCU squad to close the weekend.
Then ranked No. 22, the Sun Devils took the doubles point from the 15th-ranked Cowgirls and held a 1-0 lead going into singles play.
With wins from Sasa Klanecek and Savannah Slaysman on courts 6 and 5, respectively, ASU owned a 3-0 lead and needed just one more match to swing their way to put them into the weekend final.
Unfortunately, the Cowgirls stormed back on courts 2, 3 and 4 to tie the match at 3-3. Ilze Hattingh couldn't fend off No. 21 Vladica Babic in the third set and OSU knocked off the Devils 4-3.
In the match against TCU, the Devils also took the doubles point, but didn't look back against the Horned Frogs as they would go on to take the match in a commanding 4-1 scoreline.
ASU got singles wins from Lauryn John-Baptiste on court two, Nicole Fossa Huergo on court three and Sasa Klanecek on court six. It was the Sun Devils' first win over a top-25 team in 2018.
The Sun Devils are fairly familiar with the Demon Deacons who eliminated ASU from the NCAA Tournament a season ago in Athens, Georgia, by a score of 4-2.
Wake brings three ranked women to the courts in Columbia, including No. 44 Emma Davis, who clinched the match for Wake Forest on court one in the previous meeting.
Although the Demon Deacons also field three viable doubles tandems that are ranked in the top-50, ASU has an advantage in the rankings on court one with No. 8 John-Baptiste/Hattingh. Last time out, the court one matchup produced a thriller that eventually went the way of the Black and Gold and was John-Baptiste/Hattingh's second loss of the season in their first year together.
ASU is expecting to get sophomore Sasa Klanecek back for this weekend's kickoff. The Slovenian international sat out in singles play during the opening homestand, and her absence provided an a chance to several newcomers to put on the pitchfork for the first time.
Samantha Alicea was a mainstay in the lineup on court five for the entire weekend, and Julia Fisch and Grace Koester both earned wins on court six on opening day.
Overall, Tereza Kolarova had the ideal start to the season, claiming three wins in three appearances over opponents from UC Davis, Drake and NAU. Savannah Slaysman picked up two match-clinching wins and both Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh earned a sole win in singles, but the All-American duo leads the team in doubles wins with two.
The winner between ASU and Wake Forest will take on the winner of No. 14 and host South Carolina and California.
Live streaming will be available on the South Carolina YouTube page, and live results will be available on the SC website.
Follow @SunDevilWTennis for live updates and go to thesundevils.com after each match for a recap of the days.
Rankings Update
Defending national champion Stanford debuted at No. 1 in the first poll of 2019, and even though the Cardinal have yet to play a dual match in the new year, the Pac-12 powerhouse still held on at the top spot in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings.
Only two Pac-12 teams earned top-25 nods in this week's poll as UCLA came in at No. 8.
The American, the SEC and the ACC make up 15 of the 25 spots with the ACC leading all conferences with seven programs.
Most of the top-10 stayed the same after the first week of competition with only No. 9 Michigan and 10th-ranked Oklahoma State swapping positions. Elsewhere in the top-25, Illinois made the biggest jump in the poll, improving three spots to No. 18, and Central Florida had the biggest drop as the Knights fell two spots to 22.
The doubles and singles rankings will be updated next month. Until then, the All-American duo of John-Baptiste/Hattingh remains at No. 8 in the nation and only Cali Jankowski is ranked in singles play for the Devils.
Last Time Out
The Sun Devils opened the season with three home wins over UC Davis, Drake and Northern Arizona.
All three matches were sweeps, including a 5-0 win over in-state rival and Big Sky champion NAU to close out the weekend homestand.
Tereza Kolarova had a perfect weekend of competition and was the only Sun Devil to complete and win all three of her matches over the weekend.
Savannah Slaysman secured two of the wins for the Devils by earning the fourth team point against UC Davis in the first match of the season and NAU to close out the holiday weekend.
Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh took turns at the No. 1 singles position, but both only managed to take wins in their matches on court two as the dual match was wrapped up before they had a chance to finish on one.
In doubles, however, the duo continued their winning ways, going unbeaten on the weekend with two wins.
A Look Back – ITA Kickoff 2018
At last season's ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Sun Devils nearly knocked off the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in Stillwater before handling a top-25 TCU squad to close the weekend.
Then ranked No. 22, the Sun Devils took the doubles point from the 15th-ranked Cowgirls and held a 1-0 lead going into singles play.
With wins from Sasa Klanecek and Savannah Slaysman on courts 6 and 5, respectively, ASU owned a 3-0 lead and needed just one more match to swing their way to put them into the weekend final.
Unfortunately, the Cowgirls stormed back on courts 2, 3 and 4 to tie the match at 3-3. Ilze Hattingh couldn't fend off No. 21 Vladica Babic in the third set and OSU knocked off the Devils 4-3.
In the match against TCU, the Devils also took the doubles point, but didn't look back against the Horned Frogs as they would go on to take the match in a commanding 4-1 scoreline.
ASU got singles wins from Lauryn John-Baptiste on court two, Nicole Fossa Huergo on court three and Sasa Klanecek on court six. It was the Sun Devils' first win over a top-25 team in 2018.