The ASU women's tennis team finished its fall season Sunday, hosting the 13th annual Thunderbird Invitational.
"I think everyone played well," ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. "We accomplished what we wanted to."
The goal, according to McInerney, was to continue to build experience for a young squad anxious for bigger and better things.
Each player had four singles matches and three doubles matches.
But the Sun Devils also had success against Pac-10 competition in California, and opposed non-conference foes such as Michigan and Purdue.
ASU had two players advance as far as the semifinals in the main draw of singles competition.
Freshman Kelcy McKenna advanced to singles final, but lost Sunday to Cal's Marina Cossou 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4.
McKenna breezed through her first four matches, including an upset win over the tournament's number one seed, Cal's Stephanie Kusano, in the quarterfinal, 6-3, 6-2.
The coach said McKenna, one of the team's three freshmen, proved herself.
"She's continued to show that she's a good player," McInerney said. "She's also really a tough kid."
Junior Laila Abdala lost to Cassou 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinal, but yielded just two total match points to her first two opponents.
The team also mixed and matched pairings on the doubles side to prepare for play at the start of the year.
The Sun Devils went 6-3 as a team in their doubles matches.
Abdala's younger sister, Nadia, didn't fare as well in the National Indoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
The sophomore lost to Northwestern's Samantha Murray 6-4, 7-5 in the singles main draw on day one.
When Nadia entered the consolation bracket, she got her first and only singles victory over Georgia's Christy Striplin, recovering 1-6, 7-5 and 7-5.
"It was good for her to face that kind of competition," McInerney said. "Those were some fast courts, and she doesn't have a lot of [indoor] experience playing out here on the West coast.
"Anytime you can get a win in a national tournament, you're doing something right."
The women's tennis team entered its off-season Monday. In accordance with NCAA regulations, the players will now be limited to eight hours of practice per week. They were previously allowed 20 hours during the fall season.
The team will start its 2008 season with the Freeman Memorial Tournament Jan. 11 in Las Vegas, Nev.
"It's good because now we have ideas about what our players need to work on," McInerney said. "That's especially true with our group of freshman."
Reach the reporter at: andrew.pentis@asu.edu.
