The No. 24 ASU tennis team (12-7, 3-4) will hit the road for its final conference road trip of the dual-match regular season this week to take on No. 67 Oregon and No. 50 Washington.
The team is seeking to put an end to its four-match losing streak — which has solely come at the hands of ranked conference foes — and rebound with the Pac-12 Championships right around the corner.
Head coach Sheila McInerney believes that her unit will have a strong chance to turn things around this weekend, but said that she doesn’t expect the result to simply be handed to the Sun Devils.
“We’re looking forward to it,” she said. “We realize they’re going to be really tough matches."
"Oregon is playing quite well. It hasn't had any big wins, but it has competed well and really hard against everybody. In Washington we always have really good battles with them. We’re going to have to come prepared, for sure.”
On paper, ASU enters with a considerate advantage, but both the Ducks and Huskies do possess some talented players on their respective rosters.
For Oregon, freshman Nia Rose is the No. 90-ranked singles player in the country and senior Nicole Long is the No. 123-ranked player. In doubles, Long and partner sophomore Marlou Kluiving form the No. 66-ranked couple in the nation.
Washington does not currently have any players ranked in either the singles or doubles rankings, but do rank higher than the Ducks overall.
Coming off of a tough week that included a few high points throughout, a few Sun Devils individually ascended in the rankings this week.
After picking up two singles wins (including one against the No. 1-ranked player in the country), junior Desirae Krawczyk moved up nine spots and landed the No. 27 spot in singles.
In doubles, Krawczyk and junior Stephanie Vlad are now ranked as the No. 29 pair in the country, while senior Joanna Smith and sophomore Kassidy Jump enter as the No. 52-ranked pair.
McInerney said the positive individual results from last week’s matches were good for those players’ confidence, but admittedly says she would like the scoreboard to reflect a victory in favor of the group as a whole.
“We had four opportunities against top-10 teams in the country who couldn’t quite close the deal,” she said. “So now we have a different scenario going up (to Oregon and Washington).”
A key factor that McInerney believes will play a significant role in the matches this week will be in the head coaching realm.
While McInerney possesses 31 years of coaching under her belt, her counterparts this weekend in Oregon head coach Alison Silverio and Washington head coach Robin Stephenson are in their first year with their respective teams.
Each previously served in capacity with Georgia Tech’s coaching staff. Over recent years, Georgia Tech has turned out dominant teams, including consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 of the Division I women’s tennis tournament in 2012 and 2013.
Stephenson had been a volunteer assistant coach when Georgia Tech won the national title in 2007, her first with the program. Silverio helped Georgia Tech assemble the No. 1 recruiting class in 2013.
McInerney says that she believes both Oregon and Washington players have benefited during their short time under each coach’s direction.
“They’re playing hard for their new coaches,” she said. “I think we’re going to have to be really prepared to go in there and play hard, for sure.”
Understanding of the fight that both opponents will bring this week, McInerney was keen to note that nothing for her team will be a given heading in.
“We’re sort of the favorites,” she said. “But, we’re playing on the road, and it’s a whole different dynamic. We expect a tough match against Oregon on Friday.”
The Sun Devils will first take on No. 67 Oregon on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Eugene, Oregon. The match will be available for view via live stream.
The Sun Devils will then travel farther north take on the No. 50 Huskies at 11 a.m. on Sunday in Seattle, Washington.
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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