The ASU tennis team is already young, but with its top three veterans in Virginia for the National Indoor Invitational, it got even younger this weekend.
The youthful Sun Devils hosted the 14th annual Thunderbird Invitational, which concluded Sunday on the Tempe campus. The tournament was designed so that each player was guaranteed to play in at least three matches.
ASU lined up one freshman and four sophomores for the three-day competition.
“With three of our girls gone, we really played with a different dynamic,” sophomore Micaela Hein said. “It gave the freshman a chance to see what’s out there.”
In the second round of singles, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Michigan’s Chisako Sugiyama, defeated Hein in three sets 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4.
Hein finished the tournament in the consolation bracket; she finished with three wins and one loss.
Cal freshman Jana Juricova ended up winning the singles draw.
“I think this made us realize that everyone’s good,” Hein said. “Every team is deep, even with most of the top players in Virginia.”
In singles, ASU freshman Sianna Simmons lost her first-round match but managed to come away with a three-set victory later in the day.
“To be honest, our young kids are sometimes our best kids,” ASU coach Sheila McInerney said. “They’re hungry and want to prove themselves. I think Sianna is one of the best freshmen in the country.”
Simmons also teamed with sophomore Ashlee Brown to win one of two doubles matches.
Brown suffered a minor ankle injury that kept her sidelined Saturday and Sunday.
In singles, sophomores Ali Van Horne and Amanda Martin each went 0-3 for the weekend.
While their teammates were playing at the familiar Whiteman Tennis Center on the Tempe campus, sophomore Kelcy McKenna, junior Nadia Abdala and senior Laila Abdala were on the other side of the country competing in an unfamiliar indoor setting.
McKenna lost her first round match at the National Indoor Invitational, but advanced into the semifinals of the consolation bracket.
There, Georgia Tech’s No. 1 seeded Amanda McDowell defeated McKenna in three sets 7-6 [5], 6-7 [4], 6-2.
In doubles, the Abdala sisters won their first match 9-8 [4] but fell 0-8 in the second round, ending their stay in the tournament.
The fall season is now in the books for the ASU women’s tennis team; ASU won’t compete as a squad until Jan. 16 in Las Vegas.
But players and coaches won’t exactly be sitting on their hands in the interim.
“We’re going to hit the track a lot,” Hein said. “This is our time to focus and make the improvements that we need to make.”
Reach the reporter at todonnel@asu.edu.
