#30 Women's Tennis Opens Pac-12 Play Against #3 Stanford, #17 Cal

TEMPE, Ariz.- No. 30 Sun Devil Women's Tennis has its first two of three home matches in the month of March as they'll open conference play against No. 3 Stanford (Friday at 1:30 p.m. AZT) and No. 17 California (Saturday at 12 p.m. AZT).
Fans can follow along with the action via live stats, which will be made available for both matches.

SUN DEVIL NOTABLES

• The Sun Devils continue to stack the latest team and singles polls. In the latest ITA rankings, the Sun Devils were listed at No. 30 in the nation, Giulia Morlet is No. 87 in singles and Emilija Tverijonaite is No. 103 in singles.
• The Sun Devils are 6-1 on the season at Whiteman Tennis Center. They had their first undefeated season at home in school history last season and have a 40-4 record at Whiteman since 2021.
• Morlet, Tverijonaite, Argyrokastriti and Spaka all have six singles wins this season going into conference play. 
• The duos of Spaka/Chelsea Fontenel and Morlet/Sara Svetac each have tallied five doubles wins so far this season.
• Chasing 600: Head coach Sheila McInerney picked up her 581st career win in her 40th season with the Sun Devils in the upset over then-No. 7 Ohio State. 

PREVIEWING THE NO. 3 CARDINAL

• The Cardinal are ranked No. 3 in the latest ITA team rankings and are coming off a 6-1 win over UCSB on February 24.
• Stanford is 4-1 against top-25 opponents so far this season, with wins over Texas A&M, Florida, Ohio State and Texas.
• In the latest ITA singles rankings, five Cardinal are ranked: Connie Ma (15), Angelica Blake (26), Alexandra Yepifanova (38), Alexis Blokhina (86) and Valencia Xu (105). The Cardinal have two ranked doubles pairs in Ma/Yepifanova (54) and Blake/Blokhina (60). 
• The Cardinal finished with a 25-3 overall record, won the Pac-12 Championship and fell to North Carolina State in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

PREVIEWING THE NO. 17 GOLDEN BEARS

• The Golden Bears are ranked No. 17 in the latest ITA team rankings and most recently played on February 25 against UCSB where they won 6-1. Cal will play a match at No. 41 Arizona on Friday.
• Cal is 3-2 against ranked opponents this season with wins over UCSB, Oklahoma at ITA Kickoff Weekend and Washington at ITA Indoor Championships.
• There are seven Golden Bears ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings: Hannah Viller Moeller (23), Jessica Alsola (35), Katja Wiersholm (36), Valentina Ivanov (46), Mao Mushika (92),  Berta Passola Folch (107) and Lan Mi (109). Cal also has two ranked doubles pairs in Viller Moeller/Mushika (14) and Wiersholm/Alsola (62).
• Last season, the Golden Bears went 12-10, advanced to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship and fell to San Diego in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

FOUR DECADES OF COACH MAC
Sheila McInerney is in year 40 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, the head basketball coach with the most wins in college basketball history.

McInerney recently coached in her 925th career game as the Sun Devils' head coach against No. 30 Baylor on Tuesday.

In January, McInerney guided the Sun Devils to a 7-0 win over UC Davis, securing the 575th win of her career. She currently owns a career record of 581-344 (.628).

CURRENT PAC-12 COACHES 38+ YEARS
Jack Clark, Cal Rugby (41st  season in 2023-24)
Mary Lou Mulflur, Washington Women's Golf (41st season in 2022-23)
Sheila McInerney, Arizona State Women's Tennis (40th season in 2023-24)
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women's Basketball (38th season in 2023-24)

FOLLOW ALONG
Keep up with the Sun Devils this weekend via the team's Twitter/X account, @sundevilwtennis, which will be updated with scores, results, recaps and more.