Women’s Tennis Faces First Pac-12 Road Test Against #18 UCLA and #9 USC

By: Chase Clemens, Media Relations Intern

TEMPE, Ariz.- No. 33 Sun Devil Women's Tennis (8-6, 0-2 Pac-12) heads to Los Angeles for its first two Pac-12 road matches of the season against No. 18 UCLA (Friday at 1:30 p.m. AZT) and No. 9 USC (Saturday at 12 p.m. AZT). Fans can watch Friday's match on the UCLA Live Stream and Saturday's match on the USC Live Stream. Follow along with the action via live stats, which will be made available for both matches.

SUN DEVIL NOTABLES

• The Sun Devils continue to stack the latest team and singles polls. In the latest ITA rankings, the Sun Devils were listed at No. 33 in the nation, Giulia Morlet is No. 87 in singles and Emilija Tverijonaite is No. 103 in singles.
• Tverijonaite collected her team-leading eighth singles victory against NAU on Wednesday. Patricija Spaka has the second-most singles wins with seven, which she also tallied during the NAU match.
• The duo of Chelsea Fontenel/Spaka lead the team with eight doubles wins so far this season.
• Chasing 600: Head coach Sheila McInerney picked up her 582nd career win in her 40th season with the Sun Devils after her team's 4-0 victory over NAU on Wednesday.

PREVIEWING THE NO. 18 BRUINS (7-3, 3-0 Pac-12)

• The Bruins are ranked No. 18 in the latest ITA team rankings and have won their last five matches. UCLA is coming off a 4-0 win over No. 29 Washington on March 9.
• UCLA is 3-3 against ranked opponents this season with wins over Texas, USC and Washington.
• Bruins sophomore Tian Fangran was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the  second consecutive week. The award is Tian's third of the season.
• In the latest ITA singles rankings, three Bruins are ranked: Tian Fangran (62), Bianca Fernandez (65) and Kimmi Hance (91). UCLA has one ranked doubles pair in Ahmani Guichard/Sasha Vagramov (66).
• Last season, the Bruins finished with a 15-8 overall record, fell to Washington in the Pac-12 Quarterfinals and lost to Iowa State in the Super-Regionals of the NCAA Tournament.

PREVIEWING THE NO. 9 TROJANS (10-4, 2-0 Pac-12)

• The Trojans are ranked No. 9 in the latest ITA team rankings and most recently defeated Washington State 5-2 on March 9. USC will play host No. 42 Arizona on Friday.
• USC is 5-3 against ranked opponents this season with wins over Miami and Tennessee at ITA Kickoff Weekend and Washington at ITA Indoor Championships. The Trojans also upset No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor and defeated Washington in their Pac-12 home opener.
• There are four Trojans ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings: Emma Charney (31), Grace Piper (51), Snow Han (88) and Eryn Cayetano (113). USC also has two ranked doubles pairs in Cayetano/Charney (11) and Piper/Parker Fry (36).
• Last season, the Trojans went 20-10, advanced to the Pac-12 Championship Final and fell to Pepperdine in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

FOUR DECADES OF COACH MAC
Sheila McInerney is in year 40 at Arizona State. Only two current Pac-12 coaches have been at their job longer and fourth on the list is Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer, the head basketball coach with the most wins in college basketball history.

McInerney recently coached in her 925th career game as the Sun Devils' head coach against No. 30 Baylor on March 5.

In January, McInerney guided the Sun Devils to a 7-0 win over UC Davis, securing the 575th win of her career. She currently owns a career record of 582-346 (.627).

CURRENT PAC-12 COACHES 38+ YEARS
Jack Clark, Cal Rugby (41st  season in 2023-24)
Mary Lou Mulflur, Washington Women's Golf (41st season in 2022-23)
Sheila McInerney, Arizona State Women's Tennis (40th season in 2023-24)
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women's Basketball (38th season in 2023-24)

FOLLOW ALONG
Keep up with the Sun Devils this weekend via the team's Twitter/X account, @sundevilwtennis, which will be updated with scores, results, recaps and more.