April 7, 2004

ON TAP: The No. 47 Arizona State men's tennis team (7-10, 0-4 Pac-10) returns home for some fierce Pac-10 competition this weekend. First up for ASU is No. 10 Stanford (12-6) on Friday, April 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the Whiteman Tennis Center. The Sun Devils continue the weekend taking on the No. 29 California Bears (7-12) on Saturday, April 10 at 1:00 p.m at the Whiteman Tennis Center.

LAST WEEK: The Sun Devils continued Pac-10 play this past weekend as they travelled north to take on No. 18 Washington and No. 46 Oregon. ASU dropped both matches over the weekend, putting their Pac-10 record at 0-4. In Friday's match against the Huskies the Sun Devils had a strong showing in singles play, winning three matches, but were unable to come out victorious dropping all three doubles matches. The ASU victories came from Christopher Biro, Jonathan Kinsella and Nick Hegarty. ASU took the court again on Sunday afternoon against the Oregon Ducks. In Sunday's dual, the Sun Devils came out strong at the beginning taking the doubles point to be up one on the Ducks going into singles action. ASU lost that momentum in singles play, however, as they dropped four of six matches. Biro and Hegarty came up with the lone singles victories for the Sun Devils at No. 3 and No. 6 singles respectively.

ASU VS. STANFORD: The Sun Devils enter Friday afternoon's match against the Cardinals winless in Pac-10 play. The Cardinals are also struggling, dropping three consecutive matches. The Sun Devils and Cardinals are meeting this weekend for the second time this season, with the first time coming at Stanford, Calif., where Stanford upended the Sun Devils, 7-0.

ASU VS. CALIFORNIA: ASU takes on the California Bears for the second time this season on Saturday afternoon. California is coming off a huge upset of No. 10 Stanford. The last meeting between the Sun Devils and Bears went all Cal's way, as they defeated ASU, 6-1, in Berkely, Calif. earlier this season.

DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Arizona State moved down ten spots in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, administered by the ITA, from No. 37 to No. 47. The Sun Devils have been ranked as high as No. 20 this season.

SCHEDULE STRENGTH: Once again the Devils will face a strong non-conference slate along with the always powerful Pac-10 Conference. Ten ASU opponents earned NCAA bids last year, while 12 of this year's opponents are ranked in the top-25. The Pac-10 comprises five of the nation's top-19 teams.

HEAD COACH BELKEN: In his 22nd season as head coach, Lou Belken has produced 14 All-Americans and 16 All-Pac-10 selections, including NCAA singles champion and ATP professional Sargis Sargsian. Last year, Belken guided ASU to a fourth-place (3-3) finish in the extremely competitive Pacific-10 Conference, its best finish since the 1999 season, while his team also advanced to NCAA Regional action for the 13th time and for the ninth time in the past 10 years.

HOME SWEET HOME: Over the past five seasons, Arizona State holds an impressive 55-21 (.724) overall dual record at the Whiteman Tennis Center, and a 40-21 (.655) mark against non-conference teams.