Close bonds have ASU women’s tennis on verge of making history

TEMPE – It’s easy for coaches and players to talk about culture from the inside of a program. That talk gains credibility when the same view exists from the outside. 

In the case of the 2025-26 ASU women’s tennis team, that credibility comes from none other than former coach Sheila McInerney, who coached the Suns Devils for 40 seasons, from 1984-2024. 

Under McInerney’s guidance, the Sun Devils made 36 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. She was twice named Pac-12 Coach of the Year and she reached the NCAA Sweet 16 18 times.

McInerney attended every one of the team’s home matches as a fan this season and noted how, even from the stands, she could see how close this team was. 

“They’re a super group of kids,” McInerney said. “They’re very good students, they carry themselves very well on and off the court. I think they get along very well as a team and I think you can tell just watching them play.”

Under second-year coach Jamea Jackson, the team has the chance to do something the program has not seen in a quarter century.

When the No. 15 Sun Devils face Denver in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe at 1 p.m. on Friday, they’ll be seeking their 20th win of the season. That would match the mark set by the 2001 team and not reached since.

ASU already has the blueprint for this matchup. The Devils swept Denver 4-0 on Feb. 21 at the Red Blue Invite in Tucson, perhaps giving them a psychological and tactical edge heading into the tournament.

If the Sun Devils can win that match, a date with the winner of No. 19 UCLA vs. San Diego State awaits in the round of 32.

“We’ve been working hard to get to this point,” assistant coach Diego Nava said. “(We’ve had a) little bit of luck here and there but it’s the fruit of the labor for sure. It starts way back and you’ve got to put the time in on the court from the very beginning to get results like this.”

The Sun Devils closed out the regular season by winning nine straight dual matches and finished with 19 wins, tying the third-most in program history since women’s tennis became an NCAA sanctioned sport in 1982. 

Hard work itself can only get a team so far, however. Nava said a team needs buy-in from the individuals to accomplish something truly special. 

“This stuff doesn’t happen if there’s one person on the team that doesn’t show up,” he said. “It’s a credit to the whole team. Our girls are very dedicated and they’ve committed to the way we want to run our program.”

Nava, who played five seasons of collegiate tennis at Loyola Marymount and Xavier and coached two at Louisville, said this team doesn’t have any cliques and is one cohesive group. 

“I’ve never been around a team that supports each other this much. I think that’s why they’re so special,” he said.

ASU had a hiccup in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, falling to Texas Tech 4-3 on April 16 to snap its nine-match winning streak, but there is some thought around the program that it may have refocused the Sun Devils and brought them even closer together.

“I’d argue this team is as close as a women’s tennis team can get,” sophomore Aiya Nupbay said. “We genuinely love each other and we care for each other deeply.” 

Nava is part of a coaching staff that includes Charlotte Chavatipon, a two-time collegiate national champion with the University of Texas in 2021 and 2022, and Jackson, a former professional on the WTA Tour for six years and three-time Wimbledon competitor.  

Since the beginning of the season, Nava said that Chavatipon instilled in the players’ and coaches’ heads that the Sun Devils were a top team in the country and would be hosting an NCAA regional at Whiteman. 

Nava said the team’s win over then No. 15 Pepperdine on the road in February served as the turning point for the season. It was there that belief started to set in. Down 3-1, the Sun Devils stormed back to take the last three singles matches in three sets to secure the upset win. 

Nava noted that up until that point, Chavatipon’s speech had just been words. 

“It wasn’t until Sarang (Lim), our freshman, pulled out the win where I was like, ‘OK, this is a turning point for sure,’” he said. 

Fast forward two months and the Sun Devils sit at No. 15 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings with that predicted home NCAA Tournament match now a reality.

As the No. 16 seed, ASU is making its 38th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

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