The undefeated No. 24 ASU women's tennis team protected its perfect record Thursday, rallying in the final match to take down No. 23 Fresno State, 4-3.
Senior Rebecca Rankin sealed the win for the Sun Devils in the final singles match of the day, against the Bulldogs' Tinesta Rowe.
The unranked Rankin took down No. 92 Rowe in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
In addition to Rankin's match-winning sets, Roxanne Clarke, and both Nadia and Laila Abdala pulled out wins in the singles round.
Earlier in the match, Rankin and freshman teammate Nadia Abdala pulled out the Devils' only doubles win against Fresno State, topping Rowe and Danon Beatty, 8-0.
"With us losing the doubles point, I thought our kids did a great job coming back and winning four out of six singles matches against a good team," coach Sheila McInerney said.
Kady Pooler and Clarke may suffer a rankings drop from the No. 8 spot, having lost to unranked Vanessa Heroux and Anastasia Petukhova, 8-3.
"[Heroux and Petukhova] barely made any mistakes," McInerney said. "They're very good. I mean, for them to beat Kady and Roxanne like they did, they beat us pretty good. So I give them credit."
The 4-0 Sun Devils travel to No. 21 Texas on Feb. 10.
Men ready for 'practice'
The ASU men's tennis team isn't practicing any differently for the University of South Florida or University California Santa Barbara.
"It's just another match," sophomore T.J. Bellama said. "It's just another chance to work through the lineup and figure out where everyone is and where everyone's playing."
As the team prepares for the matches on Friday and Saturday respectively, the men are acting more like the weekend is just extra practice.
"It's a good opportunity for the younger guys," Bellama said. "Especially Murilo [Souza] and [Patrick] Brogan, who didn't play much last semester, to get a couple matches."
Considering the team's performance on Jan. 26, having swept Scottsdale Community College and NAU, the Sun Devils appear nonchalant about the competition for the weekend.
"I think that as far as what we need to work on, getting ready for these two matches [and the season], is match experience," senior Nick Hegarty said. "Getting used to playing, you know. Because match time is different than practice."
Bellama said Pac-10 play is significantly more important than many of the matches at the top of the schedule, but the lack of tough opponents early on the 2007 season will help the large freshmen class become acclimated to college play before the team will have to face Pac-10 opponents.
With so many newcomers to the team - three freshmen including Matt Brooklyn, Patrick Brogan and Murilo Souza - the returning Bellama and Hegarty had a few words of advice.
"Times are going to be rough and times are going to be good," Hegarty said. "And during the rough times, stay within yourself, and don't get too discouraged. All the bad things also may end up good."
