The No. 24 ASU women’s tennis team (12-3, 3-0) will be challenged with its most talented opponents of the season this week as the team hosts No. 10 Stanford and No. 3 Cal.
ASU is coming off a week that saw the team capture two of three possible victories via sweep, defeating San Jose State and Washington State.
The Sun Devils’ loss that came at the hands of now-No. 14 Pepperdine in a close match that the team lost 4-3. The loss ended the team’s eight-match win streak, which is its season high thus far.
It will be interesting to see whether or not the team can maintain its current ranking or even improve on it, as it will be facing two top-10, Pac-12 conference opponents in Stanford and Cal.
To this point in the season, the team is 1-1 against teams ranked in the top 25, with the lone victory coming against then-No. 17 Northwestern and the loss coming against then-No. 16 Pepperdine.
Still, the Sun Devils remain a part of the top 25 in the latest rankings, falling five spots from No. 19 in the country (marks dual-match season-high rank) to No. 24 this week.
The first of the two heavyweight bouts ASU will take part in will be Friday against No. 10 Stanford.
The Cardinal carry four ranked singles players, including two ranked within the top 10 — sophomore Carol Zhao (No. 4), sophomore Taylor Davidson (No. 10), sophomore Caroline Doyle (No. 27) and senior Ellen Tsay (No. 91).
Zhao and Davidson form the No. 2 doubles pairing in the nation, while Doyle and Tsay form the No. 14 pairing.
Cal also possesses a strong lineup, with five of the school’s six singles players earning a position within the top 65 players in the country, including junior Klara Fabikova (No, 22), senior Zsofi Susanyi (No. 33), junior Lynn Chi (No. 41), sophomore Denise Starr (No. 43) and freshman Karla Popovic (No. 61).
Sophomore Maegan Manasse and Starr form the No. 5 doubles pairing in the country, while Susanyi and Fabikova form the No. 11 pairing.
For ASU, not too much has changed as far as national rankings are concerned.
In singles, junior Desirae Krawczyk remains the lone Sun Devil to appear in the rankings, coming in ranked as the No. 45 singles player in the country. In the doubles, Krawczyk and junior Stephanie Vlad are the No. 36 pair in the nation and the duo of senior Joanna Smith and sophomore Kassidy Jump are ranked No. 77.
The Sun Devils will have a chance to make a statement against two of the best teams in the country this week, and will also have a home-court advantage in both games. The team is 8-2 so far, hosting opponents at Whiteman Tennis Center.
The team’s match against No. 10 Stanford will take place Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe. On Saturday, the Sun Devils will host No. 3 Cal at noon in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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