Junior Stephanie Vlad reaches for the backhand return against Penn on March 9, 2015, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)The No. 24 ASU women's tennis team (8-2) is set to take on two conference opponents to close out its spring break stretch of games, and will be playing just its third and fourth away matches of the dual-match season.
"I think we’re looking forward to going on the road," head coach Sheila McInerney said. "We’ve been home for a while, so I think it’s fun for the kids to spend some time with each other on the road."
The team is currently up nine spots in the latest ITA poll, coming in as the 24th ranked squad in the nation in the midst of a six-game winning streak.
The Sun Devils' current ranking gives them the fifth-best ranking in the conference, behind only No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 USC, No. 9 California and No. 12 Stanford. Colorado is currently ranked No. 47 while Utah is unranked.
Although unranked, Utah does feature the No. 53 singles player in the country in senior Tereza Bekerova. Bekerova and freshman Margo Pletcher will enter ranked as the No. 31 doubles pairing in the country, as well.
ASU will be countering with junior Desirae Krawczyk, who is now ranked as the No. 44 singles player in the nation. Krawczyk and junior Stephanie Vlad currently form the No. 26 doubles coupling in the nation, and senior Joanna Smith and sophomore Kassidy Jump enter ranked as the No. 75 pairing.
Despite the team being ranked as a whole, Colorado currently has no players ranked in either the singles or doubles categories.
Regardless, McInerney is approaching the next two matches with the same focus and mentality as she would any other.
"Any time you’re playing on the road against anybody, particularly in the Pac-12, it’s gonna be a challenge, but we’re looking forward to it," she said.
Since the start of the dual match season in mid-January, the team has only played a total of 10 matches, with six of them having been played within the span of 19 days.
Beginning with their match on Friday, the Sun Devils will be playing 12 matches between then and April 17.
Earlier in the season McInerney had said that she believed her team would benefit from the rampant portion of its schedule. Vlad echoed that claim, and says the team has enjoyed the recent increase volume of games.
"I think this was a pretty long stretch for us," Vlad said. "I think now we’re really looking forward to Pac-12 play."
McInerney said that the team will practice in preparation for the match once it arrives in Utah in order to accommodate for the difference in altitude, which she said does make a difference because the ball moves more quickly.
"(They) understand it’s a tough road trip going up to Utah and Colorado, and that the elevation is definitely going to be a factor and the ball travels a little differently," she said. "Just the whole atmosphere is a little bit different, really. It’s good that we’re going up there a few days early, to get some practice in and get a good feel for playing outdoors in that altitude."
Smith explained how the players would have to adjust their play and gear to the difference in atmosphere, as well.
"We’ll be stringing our rackets a little bit heavier to compensate for that," she said. "Our strategy going in is the same thing that we’ve even used at home, which is just play our own game styles and be aggressive."
McInerney said that the practice routine is expected to mimic what they've done during their recent stretch of games. However, Vlad said the team's recent stretch of play has allowed them to focus on more conditioning and fundamental work.
"We’ll be doing a lot of hitting over there, just getting used to the conditions. I don’t think match play will be an emphasis," she said.
Smith explained that she felt the team was excited for the opportunity to start Pac-12 play.
"I think it will be a bit of an adjustment, but we’re really excited to travel on the road and get two wins," she said.
The Sun Devils will first arrive in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to practice before playing Utah on Friday at 12:30 p.m. They will then travel to Boulder to play No. 47 Colorado on Sunday at 9 a.m.
Additonal Note:
- The no-ad scoring system that the ITA and NCAA have been experimenting with this season will not be used when scoring throughout conference play. To simplify the explanation, the scoring system will require a player to claim an advantage point after a deuce point and then earn a game point before winning a game.
For the full explanation of the no-ad rules that have been used throughout the year, click here.
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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