Women's tennis closes home schedule


The No. 23 Arizona State women's tennis team will host No. 10 California and No. 12 Stanford in their final home matches of the season. The 11-2 (3-0) Sun Devils will challenge the Cardinal on Friday, March 26 at 1:30 p.m. The following day, the team will hit the court to battle it out with the Golden Bears at noon. Both matches count towards Pac-10 standings.

Last week
The Sun Devils moved up to 11-2 after sweeping both Louisville and BYU last weekend. With all the singles players and doubles teams winning their matches, only two sets were dropped the entire weekend. No. 1 singles player Micaela Hein earned an upset win over BYU's McCall Jones after coming out on top of a 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 battle.

Scouting the competition
The Cardinal comes to Tempe with a 10-1 record and will enter the match coming off a win over Cal Poly. Five singles players are ranked including No. 8 Hilary Barte, No. 37 Mallory Burdette, No. 40 Lindsay Burdette, No. 66 Stacy Tan and No. 85 Carolyn McVeigh. The doubles duo of Lindsay Burdette and Barte are currently second in doubles standings while Mallory Burdette and Tan are ranked 24th. California will be just as tough as the Golden Bears boast the nation's No. 2 player in Jana Juricova. Marina Cossou is currently 16th in the latest poll with Mari Andersson at 50th. In doubles, Juricova and Andersson are currently sixth with Annie Goransson and Tayler Davis at 79th.

Senior salute
This weekend marks the final time ASU seniors Nadia Abdala and Amanda Martin will play at the Whiteman Tennis Center. Abdala looks to cap her stellar Sun Devil career by earning All-Pac-10 honors for a fourth straight season. Additionally, Abdala made it to the second round of the NCAA Championships last season. Martin is a member of the Barrett Honors College and has been named an ITA Scholar Athlete for the past two seasons.

Two of Pac-10's finest
All-Americans Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna have been named Pac-10 Player of the Week already this season. Hein was selected after helping aid the Sun Devils to a 2-0 conference start with their sweep over the Washington schools. McKenna's upset win over then No. 22 Danielle Lao to put the Sun Devils on top against then-No. 13 USC was acknowledged by the Pac-10.

Home court domination
The Sun Devils are 8-0 at home this season. Four of the Sun Devils wins at home have been 7-0 sweeps against their opponents. In all, the Sun Devils have only dropped seven singles matches in home duals this season.

Crickey Brycki
Despite being out for several weeks at the beginning of the spring season, sophomore Michelle Brycki has put together quite the dual season in her comeback. She is the only member of the team with a flawless dual match record as she is now 9-0 after last weekend. Additionally, Brycki and doubles partner freshman Nicole Smith have only dropped one doubles match this season.

Southern girl
Brycki is not the only sophomore to avoid the sophomore slump. Sianna Simmons rebounded from a tough fall season to a spectacular spring campaign. The native of Atlanta is currently 10-1 in dual matches this season and has won her last eight.

Next up
The Sun Devils head to Los Angeles for two Pac-10 matches against No. 5 UCLA and No. 21 USC in two weeks. The Sun Devils will take on USC on Friday, April 9 and the Bruins loom the following day.