April 23, 2003
Complete Women's Tennis Release in PDF Format
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ON TAP: The No. 18 Arizona State women's tennis team (9-10, 2-6 Pac-10) will begin postseason action as they travel to Ojai, California to compete in the Pac-10 Championships, Thursday, April 24 through Sunday, April 27. This is an individual and doubles tournament, not a team competition.
PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS: The event will be held in conjunction with the 103rd annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament ... there will be two flights (championship and invitational) with a 32-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw in each flight ... in the championship singles flight, Arizona State entered seniors Adria Engel and Mhairi Brown, junior Cindy Sureephong and sophomore Lauren Colalillo ... in the invitational singles flight, the Sun Devils entered sophomore Joslynn Burkett and Paulie Fabian ... in the doubles championship, the duo of Engel and Colalillo as well as Brown and Sureephong will compete ... Adria Engel captured the 2001 Pac-10 singles title, becoming the first Arizona State player (male/female) to claim the title ... complete results from this weekend's competition will be posted on www.pac-10.org and on http://www.ojaitourney.com.
HEAD COACH SHEILA McINERNEY: Enters her 19th season at the helm of the ASU program after leading her team to a NCAA Round of 16 appearance and a No. 9 national ranking in 2002. McInerney has also guided ASU to eight quarterfinal appearances in her tenure, and has made the NCAA tournament in 17 of her 18 seasons. McInerney was also selected as the head coach of the 2001-2002 USA Tennis Collegiate team. In 1997, McInerney was honored as the ITA National Coach of the Year after guiding the Sun Devils to a 15-7 record and a No. 7 national ranking. She also garnered 1997 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year honors and is a three time (1988, '90, '01) West Region ITA Coach of the Year. McInerney, who owns a career record of 299-178 (.627), posted three 20-win seasons (1986, '90, '01) and has guided the Devils to 15 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. ASU has finished in the top-10 in five of the past six seasons and 13 times in her 18 seasons. McInerney has tutored 23 All-Americans and 13 different all-conference players.
ALL-AMERICAN NUMBERS: Senior and three-time All-American Adria Engel will look to become Arizona State's second four-time All-American selection (Reka Cseresnyes 1995-98). After capturing ASU's first Pac-10 singles title (male/female) as a sophomore, Engel is also the school's all-time leader in wins. She is the team's No. 1 player, posting a 16-4 dual record and has won eight of her past 10 matches, including knocking off the No. 4, 7 and 10th ranked players in the nation. She is currently 26-10 and holds a career record of 127-43 (.747).
DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Arizona State is No. 18 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, administered by the ITA. In singles, Adria Engel is at a career-high No. 5 and Dora Krstulovic comes in at No. 62.
SCHEDULE STRENGTH: Once again the Devils faced a strong non-conference slate along with the always powerful Pac-10 Conference. Thirteen ASU opponents earned NCAA bids last year, while nine of ASU's opponents are ranked in the top-25. The Pac-10 comprises five of the nation's top-10 teams and seven of the nine Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top-25.