March 28, 2005
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ON TAP: The Arizona State University women's tennis team (5-6, 1-2 Pac-10) will host Southwest Missouri State (1-8) on Tuesday, March 29 at 1:30 p.m. ASU will then head to the Bay area to take on top-ranked Stanford (14-0, 2-0 Pac-10) on Friday, April 1 at 1:30 p.m. and 24th-ranked California (11-3, 1-1 Pac-10) on Saturday, April 2 at 12:00 p.m.
SUN DEVILS WIN TOURNAMENT TITLES: Jessica Leitch breezed to the Flight 2 Singles Championship at the Freeman Memorial Championship in Las Vegas with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Stanford's Joanna Kao. Leitch, a freshman from Dallas, Texas, then teamed up with Joslynn Burkett and advanced all the way to the championship of the Flight 1 Doubles Consolation. However, in the Flight 2 Doubles Consolation Championship, ASU did prevail as the tandem of Sabrina Capannolo and Rebecca Rankin defeated South Carolina's Grace Blakely/Justine Walsh, 8-3.
POOLER/COLALILLO HEATING UP: Sophomore Kady Pooler and senior Lauren Colalillo have combined to win 15 of their 19 dual singles this year. Pooler has won nine of her past 11 duals, while Colalillo has won six of her eight duals (all in straight sets except one). Currently ranked 21st in doubles, the pair are also excelling as the Devils' No. 1 team. Overall, Pooler and Colalillo are 8-3 (won four of their last five duals), including impressive wins over No. 3 UCLA (Bercek/Zalameda), No. 15 Oregon (Dieskova/Panova) and No. 18 Texas (Ruckert/Strohm).
HEAD COACH Sheila McInerney: Sheila McInerney is in her 21st season at the helm of the Sun Devil program after leading last year's team to its eighth consecutive (18 of the past 20 seasons) NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2004. McInerney has also guided Arizona State to eight quarterfinal appearances in her tenure, and has made the NCAA tournament in 19 of her 20 seasons. ASU is one of only five schools (Stanford, Duke, Georgia, Tennessee) to have reached the NCAA Sweet 16 or better for the past eight years. McInerney, who owns a career record of 314-200, posted three 20-win seasons (1986, '90, '01) to her credit and guided the Sun Devils to 17 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. ASU has finished in the top-10 five of the past eight seasons, and an astounding 13 times in her 20 seasons.
HOME SWEET HOME: Over the past seven seasons, Arizona State holds an impressive 72-32 (.692) overall dual record at the Whiteman Tennis Center. The Devils non-conference record is even more impressive with a 64-20 (.762) mark.
SCHEDULE STRENGTH: Once again, ASU is taking on a strong non-conference slate along with the always powerful Pac-10 Conference. After this weekend's duals against Stanford and California, eight of ASU's last 11 opponents were/are ranked in the top-25. Overall, 15 of ASU's 20 opponents earned NCAA bids to last year's tournament (five to the Round of 16/four to the quarterfinals), while 12 of ASU's 2005 opponents are currently in the top-25, including five of the top-12 teams.
DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: In the first ITA computer rankings (March 22), ASU lands at No. 36. In doubles, the team of Lauren Colalillo and Kady Pooler move up to No. 21, while the duo of Sabrina Capannolo and Jessica Leitch check in at No. 55.