TEMPE, Ariz. – Following their dominant 7-0 win over Washington State, the No. 26 Sun Devil Women's Tennis team will head to Northern California for two matches this weekend at No. 42 California (Friday, March 31, 1:30 PM MST) and No. 15 Stanford (Saturday, April 1, 12:00 PM MST).
FRIDAY AT CALIFORNIA
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SATURDAY AT STANFORD
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The Sun Devils are on a two match win streak against California including a 4-3 win in their most recent match-up on April 22, 2022 at the Pac-12 Tournament in Ojai. The Stanford Cardinal have given the Sun Devils some trouble in the past, but in their most recent regular season matchup on April 2, 2022, the Sun Devils won by their largest margin ever against Stanford (4-2).
Last season, the Sun Devils downed both Cal and Stanford on consecutive days at the Whiteman Tennis Center to deliver head coach Sheila McInerney win No. 550 in her career.
A legendary win for our legendary coach.
— Arizona State Women's Tennis (@sundevilwtennis) April 1, 2022
Congrats to Sheila McInerney, who earned career win No. 550 today ??#ForksUp // #O2V pic.twitter.com/vmnOy4BYbL
Sun Devil Noteables (12-3, 2-1)
- The Sun Devils are coming into the weekend as the No. 26 ranked team in the country, up six spots from their previous listing.
- ASU has two athletes ranked in singles; No. 93 Giulia Morlet and No. 125 Chelsea Fontenel. The doubles pairing of Patricija Spaka and Domenika Turkovic are ranked No. 18 in the country.
- Arizona State has a perfect home record of 11-0 on the season. The team has won 58 of 66 matches at the Whiteman Tennis Center dating back to 2018.
- In their most recent match, the Sun Devils swept Washington State, 7-0, in Pullman, Washington. Duos partners Sedona Gallagher and Rachel Hanford won the point-clinching doubles match. Arizona State was dominant in singles, winning five of six first sets. The Sun Devils went on to win all six singles matches, with only one match going into a third set.
- Marianna Argyrokastriti leads the team in wins with 13. The freshman Fontenel, who filled in for the injured Morlet on singles Court 1, is right behind with 12 wins. Hanford, who's been excellent this season when her name has been called, is a perfect 5-0 in singles.
- In doubles, the pairings of Argyrokastriti/Fontenel and Gallagher/Morlet are tied for most doubles wins on the team with eight.
Previewing the No. 42 California Golden Bears (5-6, 2-2)
- The Golden Bears are ranked No. 42 in the most recent ITA rankings, jumping a whopping 19 spots from the previous ranking.
- California has split their in conference match-ups, 2-2, with wins over UCLA and Colorado and losses against USC and Utah.
- Cal's Jessica Alsola is ranked No. 40 in singles and the doubles pairing of Alsola and Katja Wiersholm is ranked No. 15.
- California has split the last six meetings with Arizona State, but the Sun Devils have won the two most recent meetings.
Previewing the No. 15 Stanford Cardinals (11-2, 4-0)
- Stanford is ranked No. 15 which is a three spot jump from the previous rankings.
- There are multiple ranked singles players for Stanford; No. 12 Connie Ma, No. 28 Angelica Blake, No. 33 Alexandra Yepifanova, and No. 84 Alexis Blokhina.
- In doubles, Blake and Blokhina are ranked No. 62.
- The Cardinals are 11-2 and a perfect 4-0 in conference play on the season.
- Stanford is currently on an eight match win streak including wins against No. 9 Vanderbilt and No. 8 Texas.
- Arizona State historically struggles against Stanford, but the two have split the two most recent matchups including a 4-2 win for Stanford in the 2022 Pac-12 Championship Final where the Sun Devils were the lowest seed in tournament history to make the final.
Following this weekend's trip, the Sun Devils will return to Tempe to host four conference opponents for the final homestand of the spring.
MATCHES VS. PAC-12 OPPONENTS THIS SEASON
Sunday, March 5 vs. Oregon (W, 4-0)
Friday, March 17 at Washington (L, 1-4)
Sunday, March 19 at Washington State (W, 7-0)
Friday, March 31 at Cal
Saturday, April 1 at Stanford
Friday, April 7 vs. USC
Saturday, April 8 vs. UCLA
Friday, April 14 vs. Colorado
Saturday, April 15 vs. Utah
Saturday, April 22 at Arizona
REMAINING HOME MATCHES THIS SEASON
Friday, April 7 vs. USC (1:30 p.m. MST)
Saturday, April 8 vs. UCLA (12 p.m. MST)
Friday, April 14 vs. Colorado (1:30 p.m. MST)
Saturday, April 15 vs. Utah (12 p.m. MST)
NEARLY FOUR DECADES OF COACH MAC
Sheila McInerney is in year 39 at Arizona State. Only two current Pac-12 coaches have been at their job longer and fourth on the list is Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer.
McInerney recently coached in her 900th career game as the Sun Devils' head coach against the No. 6 Buckeyes on February 19.
In April 2022, McInerney guided the Sun Devils to a 4-3 win over No. 12 Cal, securing the 550th win of her career. She currently owns a career record of 568-335.
CURRENT PAC-12 COACHES 37+ YEARS
Jack Clark, Cal Rugby (40th season in 2022-23)
Mary Lou Mulflur, Washington Women's Golf (40th season in 2022-23)
Sheila McInerney, Arizona State Women's Tennis (39th season in 2022-23)
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women's Basketball (37th season in 2022-23)
FUTURE DEVILS
The Sun Devils announced the signing of top Croatian junior Sara Svetac in early March, marking the second signee in the incoming freshmen class.
Svetac, who was ranked as high as No. 135 in the ITF Junior World rankings, has captured five ITF junior single titles and a trio of junior doubles titles.
She will arrive in Tempe this fall, joined alongside top Lithuanian junior Emilija Tverijonaite, who signed with the team in November 2022.
FOLLOW ALONG
Keep up with the Sun Devils all weekend long in their trek to the Golden State via the team's Twitter account, @sundevilwtennis, which will be updated with results, news recaps and more.