ASU tennis will send off its senior class this weekend as the team returns to Pac-12 play at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Seniors Desirae Krawczyk, Stephanie Vlad and Ebony Panoho will all play their final home matches Friday and Saturday, barring the team hosting an NCAA tournament match. Ranked 19th nationally, ASU will battle No. 61 Washington Friday before welcoming in No. 62 Washington State for senior day on Saturday.
"Sort of a bitter sweet day, senior day always is," head coach Sheila McInerney said. "These three kids have done a tremendous job of representing our program, and we're going to miss them for sure."
The class is led by ASU's top-player, Krawczyk, who has played on the team's first court for each of the last two seasons. She's collected 93 total singles wins in her career, ranking fourth on the program’s all-time list. Krawczyk highlighted her senior season by winning both the ASU Thunderbird and Palm Springs Invitationals, as well as knocking off the nation's top player, Francesca Di Lorenzo, against Ohio State on Feb. 28. Freshman Sammi Hampton said Krawczyk's impact was felt off the court as well.
"I can remember first coming in here I was pretty nervous," she said. "Des really showed me the way ... showed me how we do things here."
Krawczyk is joined in the class by her doubles partner Vlad, a Scottsdale native. The pairing began the season ranked sixth in the doubles preseason poll, but was forced to split up when Vlad missed two weeks this spring thanks to a foot injury. Although she's played on the fourth court for much of this season, Vlad has also spent time on the first and second courts during her time at ASU. Vlad enters Friday's match riding a three game win streak that's gotten her back to .500 this season at 9-9.
"I'm feeling more confident with the way I've been playing lately," said Vlad. "Obviously, I want to keep that momentum going to end my career on a good note."
Fellow senior Panoho looks to keep a win streak of her own going this weekend as the Australia native goes for her sixth-straight win in singles Friday. Playing primarily on the third court for the Sun Devils during her senior season, Panoho sports a career singles record of 62-40.
Panoho has shined the brightest this season in doubles alongside junior Alexandra Osborne on court number one. The 22nd-ranked duo has twice taken down the third-ranked pairing in the country, doing so against Pepperdine and Stanford, respectively.
Panoho said she just wants the younger players on the team to take advantage of every opportunity they get.
"We try to let them know that it does go by really fast," said Panoho. "You only get four years here, and there's so many great things that this program has to offer ... So you don't want to waste any of that time."
The Sun Devils will look to extend their win streak to seven matches on Friday against Washington. While she said every match is important down the stretch, Krawczyk acknowledged there might be some extra motivation this weekend for the seniors.
"Oh yeah absolutely, you don't want to lose at home on your senior weekend, right?" Krawczyk asked.
Reach the reporter at mfaye@asu.edu or follow @mattGfaye on Twitter.
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