Perhaps the only obstacle ASU's tennis player Nadia Abdala could not overcome this weekend was a natural disaster.
The sophomore's singles final match was canceled Monday morning at the ITA West Regional Championships in San Diego, Calif., due to poor air quality brought on by the Southern California wildfires.
Nadia swept all three of her matches in straight sets Friday � but of no surprise to her coach of course.
"Nadia can play with anyone from the country," ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. "She has showed that since she came here as a freshman."
Her older sister, junior Laila, came back from a deficit to win her first singles match but lost to Pepperdine's Bianca Dulgheru 6-4, 6-2 in the round of 32.
Together, the Abdala sisters had little trouble, defeating two Pepperdine players 8-0 in doubles play on the event's first day.
McInerney said she will take into account the success of the Abdala sisters as a doubles team when constructing her lineup for Pac-10 play down the road.
By Sunday, the sisters reached the doubles finals but were defeated by USC's sixth-seeded doubles team, 9-7.
Nadia was also scheduled to play in the singles final Monday morning, but the match up against UNLV's Elena Gantcheva was canceled due to the Southern California wildfires.
As a result, she and Gantcheva were named co-champions.
By reaching the singles final, though, Nadia qualified for the National Indoor Tournament, hosted in Columbus, Ohio, where she may get a re-match.
Unfortunately, for ASU, the event coincides with the school's own tournament: The Sun Devils will host its annual Thunderbird tournament Nov. 2.
But they'll do so under the direction of a hall of fame coach. In her 24th year in charge of ASU's women's tennis, McInerney was inducted into the USTA Southwest Section Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The ASU women's tennis team split in two this weekend to compete on opposite sides of the country, but attained almost equal success.
McInerney took six of her players to compete at the June Stewart Invitational, hosted by Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Senior Wendy Pilecka won the singles title in her draw of the tournament.
"It was really a great weekend for her," McInerney said. "She really loves to play, especially coming off of injury."
Pilecka, a native of the Czech Republic, redshirted last year due to a wrist injury, but is back now and as healthy as ever.
Pilecka and fellow senior Jessica Leitch lost in the second round of doubles to VU's Amanda Taylor and Courtney Ulery 8-4 on Saturday, but Pilecka kept full steam ahead during singles play through the weekend.
On Sunday, the entire team followed suit, winning four of five singles matchups.
Pilecka defeated Kentucky's Alaina Trgovich 6-3, 6-3 to capture the singles title in the Dr. Jim Gray Draw on Sunday.
"I was very nervous at the end of the match but it really was an excellent way to cap off a successful weekend by the whole team," Pilecka told ASU's media relations department. "It's just great to compete again."
McInerney also singled out freshman Kelcy McKenna who finished the tourney strong, beating Kentucky's Megan Broderick 6-2, 6-0 to finish third in her draw.
"It's a long way to the finish line from the first set," McInerney said, "But she is seeing that she can compete against anybody."
Reach the reporter at: andrew.pentis@asu.edu.
