The ASU women’s tennis team travels away from home for the first time since March 6 this weekend to play against two top-20 schools in Los Angeles.
First is a rematch against No. 17 Southern California Friday.
The No. 21 Sun Devils (12-3, 4-1 Pac-10) defeated the Trojans (11-7, 3-1 Pac-10) 4-3 on March 13 for the first time since 2002.
“Obviously, we beat them as close as it could have been last time at our place,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney. “They’re certainly going to want to win.”
USC boasts four ranked individuals, including No. 2-ranked junior Maria Sanchez.
ASU has only one ranked player in No. 80 junior Kelcy McKenna.
The victory over USC and the recent victory over No. 12 California are the two biggest wins for the team this season.
“Lets face it, we hadn’t beaten them in eight years,” McInerney said. “They are expecting to win but so are we.”
The second dual in Los Angeles is against No. 8 UCLA (16-3, 3-1 Pac-10).
The Bruins have the No. 5 ranked player in the country in senior Yasmin Schnack.
Both duals come after a week off for the Sun Devils.
“We need to play,” McInerney said. “We had a couple weeks off, and we need to get back out there and play. This time of the year, kids would rather play than practice.”
The Sun Devils will be without freshman Nicole Smith for the remainder of the season after she re-injured her knee during practice last week.
McInerney called the possible anterior cruciate ligament tear “devastating” on a personal level and said this is probably the worst she has felt about one of her athletes.
Smith began the season recovering from an ACL tear and has been playing doubles with sophomore Michelle Brycki over the past several matches.
As a result, all the doubles teams will be shifted over the weekend.
Senior Nadia Abdala will now play with Brycki, junior Ashlee Brown pair up with sophomore Sianna Simmons, and McKenna will play with junior Micaela Hein.
McKenna and Hein were named All-Americans as a tandem last season and started this year ranked No. 12 overall.
All of ASU’s final duals come against ranked opponents.
The Sun Devils head down to Tucson to play No. 56 Arizona following the weekend in Los Angeles.
“At this time [of the year], you just have to play the really good teams and lay it all out there,” McInerney said.
Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu