April 26, 2000
ON TAP: The 10th-ranked Arizona State women's tennis team (12-7, 3-4 Pac-10) begins post-season play this weekend. The 2000 Singles and Doubles Pac-10 Invitational Championships will be held in conjunction with the 100th annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament in Ojai, Calif. Matches will take place Thursday through Sunday, April 27-30. Thursday's matches will play at the Ojai Valley Inn Tennis Center while Friday-Sunday's contests will be held at Libbey Park. Up to date tournament information can be found at www.ojaitourney.org.
PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS: All nine women's teams will be represented at the tournament to decide the singles and doubles conference champions. Stanford finished the regular season as the Pac-10 team champion at 8-0 for the second straight season and earned its 13th consecutive title. ASU tied for fourth matching last year's 4-4 conference mark. The 32-player singles draw will consist of three players from each of the nine schools, with five additional competitors selected by a committee of coaches based upon the participants' record. ASU will be sending Allison Bradshaw, Faye DeVera, Karin Palme and Megan Yeats to compete in the main draw, while Mhairi Brown and Celena McCoury will compete in a separate invitational tourney. The 16-team doubles draw will have one doubles team from each school and seven additional teams selected by the women's games committee. ASU's representatives will be Bradshaw/McCourey and Yeats/Brown. Palme/DeVera will compete in the invitational bracket.
THE PAIRINGS: Pairings have been set for the singles and doubles competition. In round 1 of the main draw singles, sixth-seeded Bradshaw will face Colleen Gray of Washington (9:30 a.m.), eighth-seeded Palme is set to play Janice Nyland of Oregon (11 a.m.), Yeats will take on California's Claire Curran (8 a.m.) while DeVera will play second-seeded Kristina Kraszewski of Washington (12:30 p.m.). In the individual tourney, McCourey will begin against Oregon's Lisa Cummings and Brown vs. USC's Caroline Christian. All first and second round singles matches are scheduled to be played on Thursday. In the main draw doubles, Bradshaw/McCourey will face Arizona's Abel/Khan (11 a.m.) while Yeats/Brown with play USC's Brymer/Warkentin (12:30 p.m.). In the doubles invitational, Palme/DeVera will meet WSU's van deVen/Pienaar.
PAC-10 CHAMPIONS: The Lady Devils boast three Pac-10 Invitational champions on their current roster. last year, junior Celena McCourey teammed with former Devil Ana Lucia Pereya to win the doubles crown, marking the second straight year ASU has taken home the title. In 1998, senior Kerry Giardino, then a sophomore, topped Stanford's Jennifer Heiser for the Pac-10 singles title. She then teammed up with then-freshman Faye DeVera and won the conference's doubles championship, topping Arizona's Michelle Gough and Vanessa Abel.
STREAKING: Since Arizona State began keeping team records in 1967, the Sun Devils have only had one losing season in those 33 years. Losing streaks are hard to come by for such an established program, which made this year's recent three-match skid something to talk about. ASU dropped consecutive matches to USC, Texas and Washington before defeating Washington State on April 8. The last time the Sun Devils dropped three straight was at the end of the 1997-98 season, falling to Texas, Stanford and California. Dating back to 1986, the Lady Devils' longest win drought was six matches, occurring in both the 1987 and '89 seasons.
IN THE PAC: The Sun Devils played in the toughest conference in the country. All six of the southern Pac-10 schools are ranked in the top 21, four of which are in the top 10. Stanford and California are ranked first and fifth, respectively, while UCLA is eighth and Arizona State holds down 10th. USC is 12th, followed by Arizona in the 21st spot. The northern Pac-10 schools are not far behind. Washington is ranked 23rd, Oregon is 52nd and Washington State is 60th. Individually, five of the top 10 players come from our conference and in the 100 athletes that are ranked, 26 hail from the Pac-10. A similar ratio is found in the doubles rankings, where five leage tandems are in the top 10 and nine are in the top 50.
IN THE RANKINGS: Although the Sun Devils' stay at the No. 2 spot in the country lasted briefly, as a miscalculation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association moved the squad one spot too high, the No. 3 ranking ASU earned in the March 22 edition was the program's highest ever. During the previous week, the team moved from No. 7 to No. 4 surpassing the program's previous highest ranking, a No. 6 mark achieved during the 1997 season. After dropping five of the last six matches, the squad dipped to 11th but is currently 10th after topping Arizona last weekend. Individual rankings were published on April 26, placing sophomore Allison Bradshaw down eight spots to 23rd-best in the country. Junior Karin Palme vaulted up to No. 28 from her 70th-place just last month and is currently 30th. Freshman Megan Yeats slid 20 spots to 81st. In doubles, the tandem of Bradshaw and Celena McCoury are ranked 22nd, up one spot from the last edition of rankings.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: Team brackets for the 2000 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships will be announced on Thurs., May 4. The women's selection show begins at 12:30 p.m. PST with the announcement of pairings and sites. Regional action gets underway May 12-14 on campus sites while the Championships held at Pepperdine University's campus in Malibu, Calif., May 18-21.
LAST WEEK'S ACTION: The team topped in-state rival and 20th-ranked Arizona at Robson Tennis Center 8-1. The win stopped a two-match losing streak for the Sun Devils and closed the regular and Pac-10 seasons. ASU enters post-season play with a 12-7 overall mark, tying with USC for fourth in the conference with a 4-4 record. ASU has won the last five matches vs. the Wildcats, adding a 9-0 victory earlier this season in Tempe.
THE COACH CLAIMS 250TH WIN: Sheila McInerney, in her 16th season at the helm of the Sun Devil program, earned her 250th career win as ASU defeated Oregon on Feb. 19. McInerney, who is averaging 16 wins per season, has led her team the past two seasons to back-to-back NCAA Round of 16 finishes. ASU has made NCAA appearances in 14 of McInerney's 15 seasons, including six quarterfinal finishes. During her tenure at ASU, the 1997 ITA National Coach of the Year owns a 256-153 record and has been a two-time ITA/West Region Coach of the Year honoree. Additionally, McInerney has tutored 18 Sun Devil All-Americans, 11 All-Pac-10 players and 22 conference All-Academic honorees.
ALLISON BRADSHAW: After being sidelined for seven weeks with a stress fracture in her foot, Allison Bradshaw returned two weeks ago. Although she dropped her first two matches, she took second-ranked Marissa Irvin of Stanford to three sets, becomming only the second person this season to take the Cardinal sophomore the distance. Bradshaw is the highest ranked player for the Sun Devils in the ITA standings, 23rd-best in the country. She and teammate Celena McCoury are the only doubles tandem ranked on the squad and are currently 22nd. Bradshaw has played the No. 1 spot for the Sun Devils all season and is 7-4 in dual matches and is 15-6 overall. The sophomore from San Diego, Calif., played in the ITA Summer Championships, making her way to the third round before retiring due to injury. As a freshman in 1998-99, Bradshaw earned All-America honors in singles and doubles, receiving a top-16 seed in the NCAA Championship singles tournament and a top-8 seed, with former teammate Katy Propstra, in the doubles competition. She currently carries a 45-20 career record.
KARIN PALME: Junior Karin Palme, from Guadalajara, Mexico, brings international experience to the Sun Devil squad due to her appearances in the 1998 Fed Cup, 1998 Central American Games and 1995 Pan American Games representing Mexico. Ranked 30th by the ITA, she currently carries an 11-8 dual, 19-11 overall record, playing mostly in the No. 2 spot during singles competition. She is 3-5 vs. ranked oppoents at the No. 1 position, where she played for seven weeks in place of the injured Bradshaw. Palme is 51-35 in her singles career. She and teammate Kerry Giardino are undefeated in doubles compeition this season, 10-0 in dual matches, 11-0 overall at the No. 3 spot.
FRESHMEN OF INFLUENCE: Freshmen Mhairi Brown and Megan Yeats are the only members on the team to notch 20 wins on the season as Brown reached the milestone vs. Washington State three weeks ago. Yeats currently posts a team-high 14-3 dual record while Brown is 12-5. Yeats is currently ranked 81st in the country and has an overall mark of 24-8, winning 18 of 19 matches ? inlcuding a 13-match win streak ? untill she was stopped twice in the Bay Area two weeks ago. Brown boasts a 20-10 overall mark, second on the team. Her 10-match win streak was halted by Stanford's Gabriela Lastra on March 3. Both records are divided among the third through sixth spots. The pair also team up at the No. 2 doubles position where they have posted a 6-4 dual mark and are 14-8 overall. They debuted in last week's edition of ITA Rankings at No. 44.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Sun Devil tennis program began the season with the new Robson Player Facility. Located on the southwest corner of the existing Whiteman Tennis Center, the spacious facility features new player locker rooms, offices, a training room and a shaded viewing terrace for spectators. Arizona State posted a 8-3 record this year, and over the past four seasons, is 46-16 (.742) when playing in Tempe. This season's losses came to sixth-ranked UCLA on Jan. 29, top-ranked Stanford on March 3 and No. 34 Washington on April 7.
JUNIORS DEVERA AND MCCOURY: Although currently not ranked, juniors Faye DeVera and Celena McCoury have been integral in the team's success this season. DeVera has been playing in the 2-5 slots in singles and is 11-7 in dual matches, 19-17 overall. McCoury has been playing on courts 4-6 during singles and is 9-6 in dual matchs, 17-13 overall. In doubles competition, the two have not been as successful, holding a 1-6 overall mark. As a freshman, DeVera won the Pac-10 Invitational Doubles Championship with teammate Kerry Giardino. McCoury played in Europe last summer, capturing the championship title at a tournament in France.
SWEEPING THE COMPETITION: On four occasions this season, Arizona State won a team match without dropping a set in singles competition, nor going to a tiebreaker in doubles action. The Sun Devils most recently accomplished this feat against in-state rival Arizona on Feb. 26, submitting only 19 sets between six singles matches and three doubles. Arizona State also notched such success over New Mexico, Tulsa and Texas Tech.
ITA Rankings
Team as of April 26, 2000
| Rk. | Team | Record |
| 1. | Stanford | 25-0 |
| 2. | Georgia | 21-2 |
| 3. | Florida | 21-2 |
| 4. | Wake Forest | 21-2 |
| 5. | California | 17-6 |
| 6. | Pepperdine | 20-4 |
| 7. | Duke | 21-5 |
| 8. | UCLA | 14-8 |
| 9. | Texas | 17-5 |
| 10. | ARIZONA STATE | 12-7 |
| 11. | Vanderbilt | 20-5 |
| 12. | USC | 15-8 |
| 13. | Notre Dame | 21-6 |
| 14. | William & Mary | 19-8 |
| 15. | South Alabama | 19-3 |
| 16. | Mississippi | 15-7 |
| 17. | Northwestern | 19-4 |
| 18. | Tennessee | 18-11 |
| 19. | Baylor | 19-3 |
| 20. | South Carolina | 15-11 |
| 21. | Arizona | 9-11 |
| 22. | Ohio State | 16-6 |
| 23. | Washington | 12-9 |
| 24. | Clemson | 15-6 |
| 25. | Florida State | 15-7 |
Individual as of April 26, 2000
Singles
| Rk. | Name | Team |
| 1. | Marissa Irvin | Stanford |
| 2. | Aarthi Venkatesan | Georgia |
| 3. | Laura Granville | Stanford |
| 4. | Kristina Kraszewski | Washington |
| 5. | Zuzana Lesenarova | San Diego |
| 23. | Alison Bradshaw | Arizona State |
| 30. | Karin Palme | Arizona State |
| 81. | Megan Yeats | Arizona State |
Doubles
| Rk. | Name | Team |
| 1. | Lesenarova/Valykova | San Diego |
| 2. | Catlin/Grey | Georgia |
| 3. | Colosio/Mores | Luisiana State |
| 4. | Senoglu/Palencia | Pepperdine |
| 3. | Curran/Jensen | California |
| 22. | Bradshaw/McCoury | Arizona State |