Jan. 29, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla.--The No. 21 Arizona State women's tennis team routed No. 22 South Carolina on Saturday in the ITA Weekend Kick-Off hosted by the University of Miami. ASU will face the 11th-ranked Hurricanes on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET in the tournament final.
"I thought we played really well," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "We got off to a really good start by winning the doubles point. Really helped that we won the five [singles] first sets fairly handily."
Senior Kelcy McKenna (No. 34) played solidly in the one position for ASU, defeating South Carolina's Anya Morgina (No. 37) 6-4, 7-6 (3). Freshman Jacqueline Cako was first off the courts for the Sun Devils, handing Dijana Stojic a 6-0, 6-3 defeat.
"We got the girls off the court fairly quickly, which is important," said McInerney. "The girls can see the scoreboards and see how their teammates are doing. Things couldn't be better here. The weather here is beautiful."
Arizona State faces a tough opponent in Miami, who defeated Florida International later in the afternoon to set up the top-25 tennis match up. No. 16 Bianca Eichkorn of Miami, the tournament's top-ranked player, had no problem putting away Christine Seredni of FIU 6-3, 6-0.
"I'm excited for tomorrow," said McInerney. "I think it will be great to have a battle on the road for us this early in the season. I think the way we handled it, as easy as we did, puts the girls in a great mindset. For us to come out and do what we did sets a good tone."
Live scoring is made available by Miami: LIVE SCORING
No. 21 Arizona State 7, No. 22 South Carolina 0
Singles
1 No. 34 Kelcy McKenna (ASU) def. No. 37 Anya Morgina (SC), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
2 No. 38 Jacqueline Cako (ASU) def. Dijana Stojic (SC), 6-0, 6-3
3 No. 74 Micaela Hein (ASU) def. Madeleine Saari-Bystrom (SC), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
4 Michelle Brycki (ASU) def. No. 117 Katerina Popova (SC), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 11-9
5 No. 90 Hannah James (ASU) def. Dominika Kanakova (SC), 6-2, 6-2
6 Ashlee Brown (ASU) def. Josefin Andersson (SC), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 6, 3, 5, 1, 4
Doubles
1 Kelcy McKenna/Micaela Hein (ASU) led Dominika Kanakova/Dijana Stojic (SC), 6-5
2 Jacqueline Cako/Michelle Brycki (ASU) def. Josefin Andersson/Madeleine Saari-Bystrom (SC), 8-2
3 Sianna Simmons/Ashlee Brown (ASU) def. Anya Morgina/Katerina Popova (SC), 8-4 Order of finish: 2, 3