ASU Women’s Tennis Loses Four-Hour Match On Senior Day

TEMPE – Sunday was the final home match of the season for No. 38 Arizona State women’s tennis. Before the match started, ASU seemed destined for a tightly contested match. With No. 27 Baylor having a higher ranking, the Bears were always likely to give the Sun Devils fits.

For the ASU, control is ideally established from the start and carried all the way through. This scenario would especially be exemplary for senior Patricija Spaka, who was celebrated on Senior Day. Spaka being the lone Sun Devil senior put her directly in the spotlight prior to the match.

To celebrate the occasion, ASU held a pre-match ceremony at Whiteman Tennis Center. As part of the ceremony, the Latvian was given a bouquet of flowers along with a commemorative plaque. The emotions quickly subsided as the Sun Devils began warming up for Baylor but were certain to return after the match.

Against Baylor, ASU clinched doubles point but Spaka lost her match alongside freshman partner Karin Altori 2-6. Singles didn’t fare much better as she was downed in straight sets 2-6, 6-7. After her singles match concluded, Spaka stood and cheered on her teammates for an awfully long time. The match duration ultimately came out to be four hours and 15 minutes long in a 4-3 loss.

“We knew coming into this match that they were a really battle-tested team,” head coach Jamea Jackson said. “We knew it was gonna be tough, it was gonna be a battle.”

Baylor’s Senior Day isn’t for another week, but the Bears will celebrate three more seniors than the Sun Devils did on Sunday. While experience wasn’t the deciding factor, one could assume it certainly played a role.

Supporting this claim is Jackson herself, who acknowledges ASU’s youth. The roster consists of seven people – three freshmen, three sophomores, and Spaka. Naturally, Spaka’s experience makes her a clear team captain. Interestingly, Jackson views having Spaka on the roster as having another coach in a sense.

“We’ve certainly leaned on her as the captain quite a bit this year to kind of assume that not almost third coach role,” Jackson said. “She takes them under her wing and explains ‘this is that’ and ‘this is why that’s that.’”

The most recent young player she’s brought under her wing is Altori. Since they started playing together, the pair of Spaka and Altori have yet to win doubles. Out of three matches, Sunday against Baylor’s senior duo of Cristina Tiglea and Liubov Kostenko had the largest margin of defeat – the first two matches being lost 5-7 and 4-6, respectively.

When March neared an end, the freshman from Israel got elevated from the second to the first court in doubles. Spaka had freshman Lily Taylor as a partner up to that point, so she’s spent the entirety of this season mentoring at least one freshman partner.

“(Spaka) does have the experience and they’re going through it for the first time,” Jackson said. “They’ve grown a lot within a short period of time just because of her.”

Altori had a positive moment in her development on Sunday during singles when the Sun Devils were down 3-2 in the midst of her singles match on the sixth court. Due to a brief period of inaction on the first three courts, fans moved from the right side of Whiteman Tennis Center to the left in droves. With her match being the only one on the right side being played, all eyes were on Altori.

Altori got off to a hot start by winning the first set 6-2. After giving away the second set 5-7 and the third set being a back-and-forth, momentum was slipping away for the freshman. However, Altori narrowly capitalized in the third set 7-6 and momentarily tied the match.

“I was really proud of her at the end of the day to see her leave it all out there and get the result she wanted,” Jackson said. “It was great to see her get the win today.”

Altori has three years ahead of her before getting celebrated like Spaka was Sunday. After the match ended, an emotional Spaka hugged multiple players including Altori. Adding to the emotions, retired ASU tennis head coach Sheila McInerney was there to comfort Spaka as well.

While the season’s not over yet, a win likely would’ve served as a cherry on top for Spaka’s Senior Day. Nevertheless, her team put in effort to make this day special for her. The loss may not have undermined Senior Day, but it likely stung as all losses do.

“The last few days, everyone’s been looking for ways to make this special,” Jackson said. “These are the four best years of your life, and they go by so fast.”