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ASU tennis' Smith, Cako hope to secure NCAA bids at Pac-12 Champiosnhips

Senior Jacqueline Cako uses all her strength to return a shot against UCLA on April 6. Cako and doubles partner senior Nicole Smith need a strong performance at the Pac-12 championships to qualify for the NCAA tournament. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)
Senior Jacqueline Cako uses all her strength to return a shot against UCLA on April 6. Cako and doubles partner senior Nicole Smith need a strong performance at the Pac-12 championships to qualify for the NCAA tournament. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)

Senior Jacqueline Cako uses all her strength to return a shot against UCLA on April 6. Cako and doubles partner senior Nicole Smith need a strong performance at the Pac-12 championships to qualify for the NCAA tournament. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman) Senior Jacqueline Cako uses all her strength to return a shot against UCLA on April 6. Cako and doubles partner senior Nicole Smith need a strong performance at the Pac-12 championships to qualify for the NCAA tournament. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)

So long Tempe, hello Ojai.

With the regular season in the books, the ASU tennis team (16-5, 6-4 Pac-12) sets its sights on the postseason, starting with the four-day Pac-12 tournament in Ojai, Calif.

The Pac-12 championships gives the Sun Devils one final chance to bolster individual records as well as improve the ASU team's seeding for the NCAA tournament in May.

“This is more of an individual, final season tournament for our kids…(to) get their rankings, get some more match play before we head into the NCAAs,” coach Sheila McInerney said.

Two of ASU’s seniors will be looking to keep their rankings intact in Ojai. Jacqueline Cako and Nicole Smith are seeking their first NCAA doubles championship berth.

“Right now, we’re ranked 28th and the top 32 get in, so we need to at least maintain, but I would obviously like to keep moving up,” Smith said. “Get a couple good wins this weekend, and we’ll secure our spot to get in.”

A couple of good wins will be tough to come by. Some of the top doubles teams in nation are in the Pac-12.

The No. 2 team of sophomore Sabrina Santamaria and junior Kaitlyn Christian from USC are in the field as well as Stanford’s sixth-ranked doubles team of juniors Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs.

Ahn and Gibbs beat Cako and Smith decisively 8-3 in a Cardinal win on April 13. A rematch with them would suit Smith just fine.

“For me, the worst match Jacq and I played was against Stanford, so I would love to face those two girls again and show them what we’re really made of,” Smith said.

Getting in to the doubles championship would mean double dipping for Cako, who is a virtual lock to get in to the NCAA singles championship as well.

Cako struggled against the Pac-12’s elite, going 1-3 against the top players in the conference. However, the lone win came against UCLA sophomore Robin Anderson, who was then the No. 3 singles player in the nation.

Smith wants a rematch with Stanford in doubles. But to Cako, it doesn’t matter who the No. 21 singles player in the country plays.

“I don’t even look at the draw, I just take it day by day,” Cako said. “Just take it one match at a time. Whoever’s on the other side of the court, basically just plan on taking them down.”

With finals just a week away, exams seem to make the bioscience major more nervous than tennis. Interestedly, Cako's most nerve-racking final has nothing to do with her major.

“I have a dance battle for my hip-hop class though on the Tuesday after I get back so I think I’m stressing about that more than anything else,” Cako said.

The Pac-12 women’s tennis tournament finals on April 28 can be seen live here or on the Pac-12 Network.

 

Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on twitter @EricSmith_SP


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