April 17, 2002
ON TAP: The ninth-ranked Arizona State women's tennis team (13-6, 4-3 Pac-10) will end the regular season in Tucson against 25th-ranked Arizona (10-9, 3-3 Pac-10) on Saturday, April 20 at 1:00 p.m. Earlier in the season, Arizona State defeated the Wildcats, 6-1 in Tempe.
LAST TIME OUT: The Sun Devils split their two duals in the Bay Area, defeating 15th-ranked California, 4-3 and falling to third-ranked Stanford, 7-0. Against Cal, The Sun Devils swept the doubles portion to take the 1-0 advantage. In singles action on the No. 1 court, Adria Engel ultimately got the best of Catherine Lynch by a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 score. Joslynn Burkett continued her dominance at the No. 6 slot, improving her record to 10-0 with a three set win, while Dora Krstulovic won her eighth straight dual on the No. 2 court. Against Stanford, ASU was able to only win one doubles match at the No. 2 slot by Mhairi Brown and Cindy Sureephong.
HOME SWEET HOME: Over the past five seasons, Arizona State holds an impressive 60-17 (.779) overall dual record at the Whiteman Tennis Center. ASU is 23-5 (.821) dating back to last season.
NOT BAD ON THE ROAD EITHER: The Sun Devils hold an impressive 6-2 road record this year, falling only to UCLA and Stanford.
HEAD COACH SHEILA McINERNEY: Sheila McInerney enters her 18th season at the helm of the Sun Devil program after leading her team to its sixth quarterfinal NCAA appearance in 10 years. ASU has made NCAA tournaments in 16 of McInerney's 17 seasons. ASU highlights from 2001 include a 20-6 overall record (McInerney's third 20-plus win season and her highest winning percentage as a head coach (.769)), an All-American selection, an All-Conference selection, the school's first Pac-10 Conference singles champion, four players earning national rankings and three academic All-Conference honorees. ASU ended the year as the seventh best team in the country. Additionally, McInerney was selected as the head coach of the 2001 USA Tennis Collegiate team. The USA Tennis Collegiate team, an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players, is administered by the USTA and ITA.
SUN DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Arizona State stayed at No. 9 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, administered by the ITA. In singles, Adria Engel goes up five spots to No. 15, while Dora Krstulovic also moves up five more spots to No. 24. Mhairi Brown moves up one slot to No. 73. In doubles, Engel and Krstulovic jump 11 spots to No. 13.