April 12, 2005
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ON TAP: The 24th-ranked Arizona State University women's tennis team (9-7, 4-3 Pac-10), winners of four of their last five duals, including three straight Pac-10 wins, will finish the regular season hosting Arizona (7-11, 1-6 Pac-10) on Saturday, April 16 at 1:00 p.m. The dual will count towards the final overall Pac-10 standings.
SENIOR SALUTE: Joslynn Burkett and Lauren Colalillo will be playing in their final home dual at the Whiteman Tennis Center against UA on Saturday. Burkett, who hails from San Diego, Calif., has posted 68 career singles wins and 58 doubles wins. She is a Maroon & Gold Scholar-Athlete and a Pac-10 Academic honorable mention selection. Colalillo has tallied 64 career singles wins and 58 doubles wins. The Toronto native, Colalillo also garnered Maroon & Gold Scholar-Athlete and Pac-10 Academic honorable mention accolades.
DYNAMIC DUO: Sophomore Kady Pooler and senior Lauren Colalillo have combined to win 20 of their 27 dual singles this year. Pooler has won 13 of her past 16 duals, while Colalillo has won seven of her 11 duals (all in straight sets except one). Currently ranked 20th in doubles, the pair are also excelling as the Devils' No. 1 team. Overall, Pooler and Colalillo are 11-5 (won seven of their last 10 duals), including impressive wins over No. 3 UCLA (Bercek/Zalameda), No. 15 Oregon (Dieskova/Panova) and No. 18 Texas (Ruckert/Strohm).
AT THE HELM: 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 318-201, 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 75-32 (.701) overall dual record at the Whiteman Tennis Center. The Devils non-conference record is even more impressive with a 65-20 (.765) mark.
SCHEDULE STRENGTH: Once again, ASU played a strong non-conference slate along with the always powerful Pac-10 Conference. Nine of ASU's last 14 opponents carried Top-25 rankings, while 15 of ASU's 20 opponents earned NCAA bids to last year's tournament (five to the Round of 16/four to the quarterfinals). Also, 11 of ASU's 2005 opponents are currently in the Top-25, including four of the Top-11 teams.
DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: After knocking off two Top-25 teams in its last three duals, ASU earned its first Top-25 ranking of the year, coming in at No. 24 (ITA computer rankings for April 12). In doubles, the team of Lauren Colalillo and Kady Pooler moved up one to No. 20, while the duo of Sabrina Capannolo and Jessica Leitch moved back four slots to No. 59.
NCAA SELECTIONS: The NCAA will announce the field of 64 and the 16 first and second round sites on Wednesday, May 4 at 1:30 p.m. (PT) on ESPNews. ASU will be looking to advance to its 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament.