Nov. 5, 2010
Tempe, Ariz.---The Arizona State women's tennis team had a fantastic start on the first day of the 16th Annual Thunderbird Invitational, as Kelcy McKenna and Jacqueline Cako reached the quarterfinals, and all of the Devils won their doubles matches.
"It was a good day, a lot of tennis for everybody," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "Everyone got to play a doubles and two singles. It's a great draw. I think it's really even, a lot of long and tough matches today. The weather was perfect. It's really what you want, everyone playing a lot of tennis."
Kelcy McKenna entered the invitational ranked 2nd behind Hein, and was dominant in her first round match against Kari Wig of Michigan, winning 6-2, 6-2. McKenna came back in one of the last matches of the day to defeat Patricia Skowronski of Oregon 6-3, 6-2.
"I'm excited to keep playing," McKenna said. "It was really nice to have a chance to play doubles first with Micaela. I haven't had the opportunity to play with her that much this fall, so it was a great way to start the day. I think that energy carried through the rest of my matches. It's always nice to play at home. I'm looking forward to playing at least one more match, and doubles, and improving with each day."
Freshman Jacqueline Cako swept her first opponent, Stacey Lee from Northwestern, with a score of 6-3, 6-3. She advanced to the quarterfinal round after defeating Rika Tatsuno of Michigan, with the same score of 6-3, 6-3.
"It felt good to get some matches in," said Cako. "It was my first time playing matches on home courts, and it's really fun. Everyone's pretty good here, so you gotta play it match by match."
No. 1 seeded Hein came out strong against Cami Hubbs of Ohio State in the first round, sweeping the match 6-3, 6-4. Hein then fell in her second round match to Belinda Niu of Northwestern, 6-4, 6-3.
"I felt like I didn't start off well, and I got down 1-5 in the first set, then got back to 4-5, but it was a little too late," Hein said. "If I'd started off stronger, it would've been a different match. But seeing Kelcy and Jacqueline make it through to the quarterfinals was great, and everyone winning in doubles this morning was a positive."
Hannah James came out in her first set against Elena Chernyakova and fell 2-6. James then made an impressive rally, winning the next sets back-to-back 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the round of 16. James then fell to Brooke Bolender of Michigan 6-3, 6-2.
The three other competing Sun Devils fell in the first round. Michelle Brycki was defeated by Juliette Coupez of USD, 6-2, 6-3. Ashlee Brown fell just short in a difficult match to Brittany Wowchuk from Northwestern, winning the first set 4-6 before falling 6-2, 6-2 in the next two. Sianna Simmons fell to Kate Turvy, also from Northwestern, with a score of 6-2, 6-2.
"It was some really good competition," Coach McInerney said. "I'm very pleased with the first day. We lost to good players. Michigan is a top 10 team, and we lost to a couple of Northwestern players, and they're really good. I think the kids played really well, even in losing."
In doubles play, Arizona State went undefeated in all four of their matches. Hein and McKenna teamed up to defeat Wowchuck and Turvy, 8-5. Cako and Brycki won over Tatsuno and Sam Critser of Michigan, also with a score of 8-5. Brown and Simmons defeated Niu and Stacey Lee, also from Northwestern, in a tantalizing match that ended 9-7. James teamed up with Wig of Michigan in a victory against Stephany Chang and Catalina Visico from California, 8-5.
The Thunderbird continues Saturday, starting at 8:30 a.m. with doubles matches. The quarterfinals of the singles draw begin at 9:30 a.m. Action will wrap up on Sunday.