Three players advanced to the round of 32, and both doubles teams advanced for ASU’s women’s tennis team Thursday at the Wilson/ITA Regional Championships.

Hosted by the University of San Diego and San Diego State University, the tournament boasts the best teams in the Southwest.

Juniors Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein and sophomore Michelle Brycki will compete Friday in the round of 32.

McKenna entered as the top-ranked player in the tournament and received a bye in the first round before defeating her first opponent, Long Beach State freshman Jaklin Alawi, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The team switched up its doubles teams so that McKenna was paired up with sophomore Sianna Simmons and Hein was paired up with junior Ashlee Brown.

“Sometimes it’s good to give you a fresh look,” ASU head coach Sheila McInerney said.

Both doubles teams received a bye in the first round and defeated their second-round opponents 8-4.

After struggling in her first two tournaments of the season, Hein has changed racquets and her performance is improving.

“She can certainly play better than she has,” McInerney said.

Hein started strong in her first match Thursday, soundly defeating UC Irvine junior Brooke Bartlett 6-0, 6-1.

The other Sun Devil to compete individually was Brown, who defeated her first opponent, LBSU freshman Anna Jeczmionka, 6-0, 6-1, but then fell to Pepperdine freshman Arianna Colffer 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.

Simmons suffered a tough loss in her first-round match, losing 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 to CS Northridge junior Whitney Paluch.

The tournament includes several Pac-10 schools in UCLA, USC and UA, in addition to numerous smaller universities from the region.

McInerney said that the tournament contains some different competition than what the Sun Devils have faced so far.

“There are so many international kids at the smaller schools,” she said. “You don’t know them, and they are usually pretty good.”

The tournament has 11 nationally-ranked players competing.

McInerney said that some of her players would experience some long days at this tournament because they will compete in three matches in one day.
“They have their work cut out for them,” she said.

Sun Devil senior Nadia Abdala, the 35th ranked player in the country, will be sitting out her third straight tournament due to injury.

Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu