Women's tennis gears up to host 15th Annual Thunderbird Invitational

November 05, 2009

The Arizona State women's tennis team will play host in the 15th Annual Thunderbird Invitational this weekend at the Whiteman Tennis Center in sunny Tempe, Ariz. With fantastic weather predictions for the weekend, the entire ASU team will compete in the tournament along with players from Boise State, California, Michigan, Ohio State and the University of San Diego.<separator></separator>Doubles play will begin at 8:30 each morning with the singles matches following. The tournament begins Friday morning and will conclude on Sunday. The singles will compete in a 32-player bracket while doubles matches will be assigned daily. Results will be posted on www.thesundevils.com at the conlusion of every round. <separator></separator>Thunderbird Individual Champions (since 2001) Year Player School 2008 Jana Juricova California 2007 Marina Cossou California 2006 Marion Ravelojaona California 2005 Jessica Shu Michigan 2004 Not Decided Due to Rainout 2003 Jenny Zika Duke 2002 Saras Arasu Duke 2001 Kate Ruckert Texas <separator></separator>Scouting the Thunderbird: The singles bracket features four players ranked in the Preseason top 100. Sun Devils <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/mckenna_kelcy00.html">… McKenna</a> (7), <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/abdala_nadia00.html">N… Abdala</a> (35) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/hein_micaela00.html">M… Hein</a> (68) are all ranked along with Wolverine Rika To (74). ASU has already faced competitors from Cal and San Diego in the fall season.<separator></separator>All-American Duo Two Sun Devils returned to school as All-Americans. Both McKenna and Hein were awarded All-American accolades last season after last season's NCAA Championships. McKenna earned honors in both singles and doubles while Hein garnered doubles awards last season. <separator></separator>Senior Star Senior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/abdala_nadia00.html">N… Abdala</a> looks to cap her Sun Devil career in superior fashion. The three-time All-Pac-10 honoree made it to the second-round of the NCAA Championship last season and is looking to improve on that finish this season. This will be Abdala's first event this season. <separator></separator>Coach Mac Honored ASU women's tennis head coach, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/mcinerney_sheila00.htm… McInerney</a>, has been honored by the Maricopa County YWCA as the Sports Leader of the Year. The 26th year head coach will be recognized along with the 10 other honorees at the 2010 YWCA Tribute to Women luncheon in February.