TEMPE – The Sun Devils opened the first day of the 25th Thunderbird Invitational with a solid day on the courts at the Whiteman Tennis Center, earning two singles wins and a doubles victory Friday in Tempe.
"It was a great day for us and all the teams competing," coach Sheila McInerney said. "It was a long day, but the weather was great and the matchups provided everyone with great competition."
McInerney's Sun Devils didn't open competition until the final session of the day when they took on women from Texas Tech and Mississippi State in doubles and singles.
While seniors Sammi Hampton and Ilze Hattingh teamed up to take down the Texas Tech tandem of Mays/Miller, 6-3, Savannah Slaysman joined forces with a Red Raider to take on Adaloglou/Nikolaev of Mississippi State, 6-4.
Slaysman and Hampton would go on to pick up singles wins to close out the evening, while Hattingh dropped a back-and-forth three-setter to No. 41 Emma Antonaki of Mississippi State.
Although the Devils closed the festivities on Friday, Saturday ASU will open play at 8:30 a.m.
"You want to be good hosts, so today we played last," McInerney said. "We wanted to play first Saturday because we wanted to give the ladies a chance to go to the football game.
"It's an important game with it being the salute to service as well as having USC in town, so we wanted to make sure we were done on time to support them over at Sun Devil Stadium," McInerney said.
Results
"It was a great day for us and all the teams competing," coach Sheila McInerney said. "It was a long day, but the weather was great and the matchups provided everyone with great competition."
McInerney's Sun Devils didn't open competition until the final session of the day when they took on women from Texas Tech and Mississippi State in doubles and singles.
While seniors Sammi Hampton and Ilze Hattingh teamed up to take down the Texas Tech tandem of Mays/Miller, 6-3, Savannah Slaysman joined forces with a Red Raider to take on Adaloglou/Nikolaev of Mississippi State, 6-4.
Slaysman and Hampton would go on to pick up singles wins to close out the evening, while Hattingh dropped a back-and-forth three-setter to No. 41 Emma Antonaki of Mississippi State.
Although the Devils closed the festivities on Friday, Saturday ASU will open play at 8:30 a.m.
"You want to be good hosts, so today we played last," McInerney said. "We wanted to play first Saturday because we wanted to give the ladies a chance to go to the football game.
"It's an important game with it being the salute to service as well as having USC in town, so we wanted to make sure we were done on time to support them over at Sun Devil Stadium," McInerney said.
Results