ASU Junior Desirae Krawczyk returns a forehand during her 6-4, 6-2 straight set win against BYU’s Mayci Jones on Feb. 14, 2015, at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe. (Shiva Balasubramanian/The State Press)Despite spring break coming up, the No. 33 ASU tennis team (5-2) will stay busy with five total matches over the course of the brief interruption of classes.
ASU will begin the stretch with three home matches against No. 51 St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania and Marquette.
“I think this week of practice is really important for us to gear up for those matchups,” senior Joanna Smith said.
“Going into the first one, the second and the third, I think that we’re all going to play better because our match play is different from our practice. We’re all really excited for that.”
Despite entering this portion of the dual-match season riding a three-game winning streak, the players remained focused on the upcoming opponents at hand.
“Obviously, it’s good to have (three straight wins) under your belt,” junior Desirae Krawczyk said. “I think we’re really focused on this weekend and getting excited to play some good matches.”
The Sun Devils will be playing their first ITA-ranked opponent since facing then-No. 31 Ohio State when they face St. Mary’s Saturday.
St. Mary’s features two ranked singles players in No. 70 senior Danielle Flores and No. 99 sophomore Jana McCord. St. Mary's also boasts the No. 44-ranked doubles pair of McCord and fellow sophomore Parminder Kaur.
Meanwhile, ASU possesses the No. 52 singles player in the country in Krawczyk. Neither Pennsylvania nor Marquette have any players currently ranked, according to the latest ITA poll.
The team as a whole is really looking forward to playing against formidable competition, starting with its match with St. Mary’s this weekend.
Head coach Sheila McInerney said she senses her squad beginning to hit its stride.
“I think now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning everything,” McInerney said. “I think the kids are really looking forward to it. We had some sporadic play, with some matches and some time off, so it’s an exciting time for us to go and get out there to play.”
The Sun Devils will look to potentially double their current three-game winning streak before facing their first Pac-12 conference foe next Friday when they travel to play Utah.
The team’s match against St. Mary’s will take place on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Tempe.
The team’s following matches against Pennsylvania and Marquette will be played on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, with both beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe.
Additional Note:
- Senior Leighann Sahagun will not be making her dual-match season debut this week as previously thought. She said she was ruled as still being three weeks away from taking the court.
Reach the reporter at kajone31@asu.edu or follow @kaelenjones on Twitter.
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