TEMPE, Ariz. – The program's most single-season wins since 2016, a run to the Pac-12 Championship final and a 34th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament – all in a year’s work for the 2022 Sun Devils.
It was a spring to remember for Sheila McInerney’s squad, who racked up individual and team-wide accolades in what proved to be one of the most electric seasons in recent memory.
TEAM SUCCESS
As the calendar flipped to April, the Sun Devils kicked it into another gear, ending the regular season winners of six straight matches. Two of those came against No. 12 Cal (4-3) and No. 17 Stanford (4-2) on April 1-2 in front of some lively crowds at the Whiteman Tennis Center. It marked the first time in program history that they’ve toppled both the Golden Bears and Cardinal in the same season, but it also officially announced the Sun Devils as a force to be reckoned with heading into the Pac-12 Tournament.
Three weeks later at the conference tournament in Ojai, California, the Sun Devils strung together terrific performances on consecutive days, upsetting No. 4 USC in the opening round and then top-seeded Cal in the semifinals to advance to the first final in team history.
In the quarters against the Trojans, the Sun Devils wiped away a 3-0 deficit and stacked four unanswered to complete a stunning 4-3 win. A 4-3 win the following afternoon against the Golden Bears secured a date with the Cardinal in the final. Despite a 4-2 setback to Stanford, thus snapping the team’s eight-match winning streak, the Sun Devils began to earn national respect – just in time for the annual NCAA Tournament Selection Show in early May.
The Sun Devils were dancing once more, selected to their 34th straight national tournament and assigned to the Oklahoma regional in Norman. They drew San Diego in the opening round, a team they’d beaten earlier in the season in Tempe, and swiftly defeated them, 4-1.
The following afternoon, they were bested by eventual runner-up Oklahoma, 4-3, thus closing the door on a phenomenal 2022 campaign.
The spring began with much promise, as the Sun Devils rattled off wins in four of their first five matches. They won their first six at home en route to an 11-2 record at the Whiteman Tennis Center this spring.
After an 8-3 record to begin the season, the Sun Devils endured a March lull that saw them drop four of five, two of which came at the hands of No. 14 UCLA and No. 20 USC.
The turnaround that followed, headlined by the consecutive wins over Cal and Stanford, set the table for the team’s magical run in the Pac-12 Tournament.
To go along with their end-of-season ranking at No. 17 in the ITA’s team polls, the Sun Devils were also listed as the No. 2 squad in the Southwest Region.
INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS
The Sun Devils entered the season with a handful of uncertainties – and rightfully so. They weren’t returning their top three players from a season ago, and on a roster of seven, two of which (Sedona Gallagher and Patricija Spaka) were brand new to the program. Gallagher had transferred over the off-season from Washington and Spaka was the team’s only freshman.
The pieces quickly fell into place for McInerney and her staff.
Sophomore Giulia Morlet, who spent her freshman season playing primarily out of the No. 4 spot, held down Court 1 in singles all spring long. Morlet was masterful in the top slot, stringing together seven wins over ranked opponents. She was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week in early April, after her wins over No. 101 Haley Giavara (Cal) and No. 13 Connie Ma (Stanford) were integral in the Sun Devils’ thumping of both the Golden Bears and Cardinal on consecutive days.
She was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First-Team at the end of the season. She ended the season ranked as the No. 65 singles player in the nation, per the ITA, good for the highest individual ranking she’s received in her collegiate career.
Paired with Morlet’s consistency, Domenika Turkovic and Patricija Spaka exhibited their own dependability alongside one another on doubles Court 1. The team’s top-ranked doubles team all spring, they went 10-5 and were one of 32 duos in the country selected to the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Turkovic ended the year nationally ranked in both singles (No. 94) and doubles (No. 39).
Spaka was equally impactful in singles play, too, going 16-2 and playing split time on Courts 5 and 6. She began her Sun Devil career a perfect 10-0 and didn’t lose her first match until more than two months into the season (March 20 at Oregon).
Cali Jankowski proved to be one of the team’s secret weapons, primarily operating out of singles Court 4. Her 18 wins in singles was a team-high, and she ended the season a winner of 13 of her final 16 matches. She also paced the Sun Devils in singles wins throughout the postseason, with a 4-1 mark.
Turkovic and Gallagher were mainstays at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions, respectively, combining for 20 singles wins this spring.
Marianna Argyrokastriti was exactly the spark-plug the Sun Devils needed most ahead of their hot-streak to end the season. She missed eight matches (February 26-March 20) while nursing an ankle injury. When she returned to the starting lineup, however, she won seven of her next eight matches on singles Court 6 and the Sun Devils went 7-1 in this stretch.
While Argyrokastriti was sidelined, sophomore Natasha Hill filled in admirably. Alongside Jankowski on doubles Court 3, the pair went 3-3. The February 20 tilt against Kansas State marked the Sun Devil debut of Hill, who earned the first win of her collegiate career the following week in doubles against Kansas.
Paired with Morlet’s selection to the conference’s First-Team, Gallagher, Turkovic, Spaka and Jankowski were all named honorable mentions.
COACHING AWARDS
Maneuvering through a 25-match spring with a roster of just seven – which dipped to just six healthy players for a six-week stretch in the middle of the season – was a masterclass effort from McInerney and assistant coach Matt Langley.
For her efforts, McInerney was named both the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and the ITA’s Southwest Regional Coach of the Year. It’s the second time in her illustrious 38-year career she’s earned those awards, both of which came in 2016.
Langley was also named the ITA’s Southwest Regional Assistant Coach of the Year, cementing a clean-sweep for the Sun Devil staff in the ITA’s postseason coaching awards.
The 2022 season also saw McInerney net career win No. 550 after upsetting No. 12 Cal on April 1 in Tempe.
Some well-deserved hardware for our coaching staff 🏆
— Arizona State Women’s Tennis (@sundevilwtennis) June 6, 2022
Head coach Sheila McInerney and assistant coach Matt Langley sweep the @ITA_Tennis Southwest Regional coaching awards 😈 pic.twitter.com/KWwO4uYzSM
WHAT’S NEXT
The Sun Devil Women’s Tennis program announced this week the addition of two players to the 2022-23 season in incoming freshman Chelsea Fontenel and transfer Rachel Hanford (Minnesota).
Fontenel has experienced years worth of success at the junior level and Hanford is the author of a pair of impressive seasons with the Gophers. Both will join a Sun Devil program that is expected to return all seven players from this season’s roster.
Not only will the “Super Seven” remain intact, it’ll also be getting some additional help in the form of two terrific talents. For Pac-12 Coach of the Year Sheila McInerney, the Sun Devils are poised to be even more dangerous in the spring of 2023.