April 23, 2002
ON TAP: The ninth-ranked Arizona State women's tennis team (13-7, 4-4 Pac-10), who finished tied for fourth place in the conference, will travel to Ojai, California to compete in the Pac-10 Championships, Thursday, April 25 through Sunday, April 29.
REGIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Sun Devils will find out where they will be playing in the postseason when the NCAA announces the regional sites, Thursday, May 2 at 4:00 p.m. It will mark the 17th time in the past 18 seasons that ASU has made a postseason appearance.
ENGEL LOOKS TO HOLD SERVE: Junior Adria Engel will seek her second straight Pac-10 singles title after claiming the crown last year. The title was the first ever for Arizona State by either a men's or women's player.
LAST TIME OUT: The Sun Devils ended the regular season by falling to rival Arizona in a tough 4-3 loss in Tucson. In doubles action, ASU started strong by sweeping all three doubles matches for the first point. In the No. 1 doubles match, the 13th-ranked team of Adria Engel and Dora Krstulovic tripped up the ninth-ranked Wildcat duo of Mlakar and sophomore Debbie Larocque, 8-5. However, the Sun Devils were unable to retain the lead in singles as they dropped four matches. Mhairi Brown played a great match against Diane Hollands, with a 7-5, 6-2 win, while Joslynn Burkett also defeated her opponent Brooke Taylor 6-0, 6-1.
HOME SWEET HOME: Over the past five seasons, Arizona State holds an impressive 60-17 (.779) overall dual record at the Whiteman Tennis Center. ASU is 23-5 (.821) dating back to last season.
HEAD COACH SHEILA McINERNEY: Sheila McInerney enters her 18th season at the helm of the Sun Devil program after leading her team to its sixth quarterfinal NCAA appearance in 10 years. ASU has made NCAA tournaments in 16 of McInerney's 17 seasons. ASU highlights from 2001 include a 20-6 overall record (McInerney's third 20-plus win season and her highest winning percentage as a head coach (.769)), an All-American selection, an All-Conference selection, the school's first Pac-10 Conference singles champion, four players earning national rankings and three academic All-Conference honorees. ASU ended the year as the seventh best team in the country. Additionally, McInerney was selected as the head coach of the 2001 USA Tennis Collegiate team. The USA Tennis Collegiate team, an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players, is administered by the USTA and ITA.
SUN DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Arizona State stayed at No. 9 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, administered by the ITA. In singles, Adria Engel goes up five spots to No. 15, while Dora Krstulovic also moves up five more spots to No. 24. Mhairi Brown moves up one slot to No. 73. In doubles, Engel and Krstulovic jump 11 spots to No. 13.