TEMPE – Returning home for the first time in a month, No. 12 Sun Devil Women’s Tennis hosts a pair of top-30 conference opponents, facing No. 29 Houston on Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m. MST and No. 25 UCF on Sunday, March 8 at 12 p.m. MST.
Live stats will be available on StatBroadcast, and fans can follow along on the team’s social media accounts on X @SunDevilWTennis and on Instagram at @SunDevilWtennis.
Arizona State will host Houston for the first time since February 2008. The two teams are also meeting for the first time as conference opponents on Friday. On Sunday, it will mark the first time the Sun Devils will host UCF, and is the first meeting since January 28, 2023, where ASU fell 4-2 in ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Last time out:
The Sun Devils went 1-1 last weekend in their pair of Big 12 matches, falling to No. 33 TCU 4-0. The team rebounded with a 4-3 win against Baylor in a match that lasted four hours. Sophomore Lily Taylor clinched the match with an emphatic three-set win over Kennedy Gibbs, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The win was the first over Baylor since 2023 as graduate Vivian Ovrootsky won her ninth dual match this season, with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) straight-sets victory.
Sun Devil outlook:
No. 12 Arizona State (9-3, 1-1 Big 12)
- A win on Friday would be the Sun Devils’ third win all time against the Cougars, improving their record to 3-0.
- A win over Houston would give the Cougars their first loss of the season and be head coach Jamea Jackson’s 25th win in the Maroon and Gold.
- ASU is 6-0 in matches when it wins the doubles point.
- The Sun Devils have three wins this season when they lose the doubles point, tying the amount of wins they had last season.
- No. 19-ranked junior Emilija Tverijonaite has defeated three ranked opponents on her way to a 9-2 record this spring, taking down No. 16 Jana Hossam Salah (USC), No. 84 Raquel Caballero Chica (TCU) and No. 49 Ziva Falkner (Pepp). At the UT Invite, she beat No. 17 Valeria Ray (Vanderbilt).
- Ovrootsky leads the team with nine wins this dual season, including being a perfect 8-0 from the No. 3 position. She has won 19 of her last 20 sets.
- The Sun Devils are 6-1 this season when they win a singles match from the No. 4 position.
- Junior Sara Svetac has a 5-2 record from the No. 2 position and defeated her first ranked opponent of the year over No. 110 Zuzanna Kubacha (Baylor) in three sets.
- ASU has a 10-1 record from the No. 3 position this season with wins coming from Ovrootsky, Svetac and sophomore Lily Taylor.
- Freshman Sarang Lim has a 4-1 record from the No. 6 spot and has a 3-0 record in three set matches this spring.
Opponent outlook
No. 29 Houston (11-0, 2-0 Big 12)
- Houston is off to its second-best start to a season since 1990 when they started 13-0 after defeating both BYU and Utah last weekend to open conference play.
- The Cougars are a combined 41-4 in singles between seven players, with Sophie Schouten being 9-0 from the No. 6 spot.
- In doubles, the team is a combined 22-3 and boasts one ranked doubles pair between Schouten and Chems Doha Zeghlouli at No. 89, having a 15-4 record this season.
- Houston started off the season with eight-straight sweeps (winning 4-0, or 7-0) over opponents and has dropped only four points all year long.
No. 25 UCF (9-1, 2-0 Big 12)
- UCF defeated both Utah and BYU last weekend to open Big 12 conference play and will travel to Tempe for the first time in program history.
- The Knights are 3-0 on the road this season and will face Arizona on Friday prior to coming to Tempe.
- Coming into the weekend, the Knights come into the matchup on an eight-match winning streak. The lone blemish for UCF is a 4-1 loss to then-No. 18 UCLA in the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend.
- In doubles, Olivia Bergler and Lauren Seye are ranked No. 80 in the ITA rankings and boast a 10-3 record this season.
Follow along
Fans can keep up with all the live action and news of Sun Devil Women’s Tennis by following @sundevilwtennis on Instagram and X, Sun Devil Women’s Tennis on Facebook, and on sundevils.com.