The ASU women’s tennis team is back on the courts and ready for action after the shortened winter break.
Coach Sheila McInerney said it’s great to get the No. 19 Sun Devils back together.
“Of course I wish we had two weeks to prepare — not six days — but we’ve played a lot of practice matches,” she said.
The team will be in Las Vegas for the 2012 Freeman Memorial Tennis Championships, which will be hosted by UNLV Jan. 13-15.
This tournament is a stage for some of the best college tennis players in the country, with representatives from No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Duke, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 5 UCLA. This year’s host is ranked No. 36.
“This tournament will have a lot of good competition,” McInerney said. “We’ll be playing among the top 20 in the nation.”
Junior Hannah James will open singles play for ASU against Duke’s Annie Mulholland.
No. 9 Jacqueline Cako, the Sun Devil’s only singles-ranked ITA player, will miss the tournament because she has reached her preseason tournament limit.
After bouts of failure and some streaks of greatness, McInerney is pleased with her healthy, strong team.
Junior Nicole Smith, who has been struggling with a torn ACL, played her first singles match in over two years at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational last November.
At that tournament, Smith garnered some success. McInerney is confident she can continue.
“Nicky’s in great shape,” McInerney said. “She’s really fit and eager to play.”
The tournament in Las Vegas is the last individual tournament of the season.
The Sun Devils will be playing as a team for the rest of the season, which will alter the way the team prepares and plays, McInerney said.
“When you play as a team, there’s more pressure,” she said. “You don’t want to drag the team down.”
Despite this change in format, McInerney still has high hopes. The team’s success is based on the chemistry they have built since the beginning of last semester, she said.
“This UNLV tournament gets you going,” McInerney said. “We’re not getting our feet wet with easy matches, we’re starting with fierce competition.”
Reach the reporter at dkmcinty@asu.edu
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