2024-25 Women's Tennis Season Recap

Sun Devil Women's Tennis ushered in a new era in their inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference under first-year head coach Jamea Jackson by making their 37th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and reaching the second round in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in the last six years.

Arizona State completed their first season in the Big 12 with a 15-win campaign under coach Jackson, who replaced legendary head coach Sheila McInerney who led the program for 40 years after announcing her retirement last June. The team gave coach Jackson her first win as head coach at ASU against LMU and won their first Big 12 dual in program history with a 4-2 win over Utah. 

Team Accomplishments
With three returners and four newcomers, the team won four of its first six matches, which included a 4-2 victory over No. 15 Pepperdine and a 4-1 win against former Pac-12 foe Oregon in February to start the season

The team concluded non-conference play with a dominating 4-0 sweep over No. 29 San Diego before defeating Utah and BYU at home to start conference play. The team then swept Iowa State and returned to Tempe with back-to-back 4-0 victories over West Virginia and Cincinnati. 

Closing out the regular season ASU defeated Kansas State, No. 37 TCU and Colorado to solidify a sixth place finish in the Big 12. The Sun Devils were dominant at Whiteman Tennis Center by going 8-1 in home matches and recording five sweeps.

The maroon and gold would later advance to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament before falling to No. 17 Oklahoma State, 4-1, but were selected to their 39th overall NCAA Tournament and defeated No. 31 Ole Miss, 4-1, in the first round before dropping their second round match against No. 3 Michigan.

Honors and Awards 
Sara Svetac and Emilija Tverijonaite compiled career-highs in their sophomore seasons by reaching the 20 win mark in singles play helping them both earn a spot on the All-Big 12 first team in singles for their second career conference honors. It marked the fourth straight season a Sun Devil was named to an all-conference first team.

Tverijonaite's 23 wins in singles were tied for the 10th most by a Sun Devil in program history which included a successful fall campaign going 12-2 and becoming the first Sun Devil to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship since 2021 with third-place showing at ITA Southwest Regionals. In her first two seasons, Tverijonaite has reached a career high ITA ranking of No. 24 in singles and has 44 career singles wins, which ranks tied for 50th for most singles wins all-time in program history.

Svetac reached the 20 win mark after going 7-1 in conference play, and ended the regular season on a seven-match winning streak. She earned Big 12 player of the week honors after clinching the win against No. 15 Pepperdine.

Freshman Lily Taylor joined the program in January and reached double-digit wins in singles with an 11-8 record and a 7-4 conference record after primarily playing from the No. 4 spot and helped clinch victories against Kansas State, Cincinnati and BYU.

Taylor was part of the teams top doubles duo with senior Patricija Spaka where they both compiled a 10-4 record from the No. 1 spot and won nine of their first 10 dual matches. Taylor and Spaka would earn a spot on the All-Big 12 second team in doubles and the freshman would also be included on the All-Big 12 freshman team and was named Big 12 player of the week on March 18.

Spaka, as a senior earned her 50th and 60th career singles victories with a 17-8 record and finished 33rd all-time for most singles victories. With a 6-1 win in doubles over Cincinnati she won her 70th career doubles match. She started the spring 8-0 in doubles and boasted a 6-0 record contributing to the teams success and growth.

Fountain of Youth
The team welcomed four newcomers who joined Spaka, Svetac and Tverijonaite who were the only returners.

Taylor and freshman Karin Altori immediately made an impact on the team by helping clinch matches and became vital pieces in doubles. Altori, from Israel joined the team in January and won seven singles matches and went 11-7 in doubles with Svetac as her doubles partner.

Freshman Aiya Nupbay grew throughout the year after going 8-7 in the fall and she played doubles with Tverijonaite from the No. 3 spot for majority of the season. The duo went 6-3 in Big 12 play with a 9-8 record overall. Nupbay got her first ranked win against Oklahoma State and went an impressive 7-3 in conference play after playing primarily from the No. 6 spot. 

Sophomore Karsyn Evans went 8-5 in the fall and then went 6-5 in the spring after playing a season at Denver and deciding to transfer to Arizona State following her freshman season. Evans played from the No. 6 spot and went 6-4 helping clinch victories against West Virginia and Colorado. The Texas native also went 3-0 in doubles play with three different doubles partners during the spring.

Looking Ahead
The Sun Devils and coach Jackson will aim to build off their first season in the Big 12 around their young talent, keeping six of their seven players with Spaka graduating this spring. ASU aims to bring in more talent with incoming freshmen and transfers to prepare for the 2025-26 season.