The women's tennis fall season ended Saturday, in the last tournament of the year, the Omni Hotels National Indoors, held at the Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Duke freshman Kelly McCain was the only Blue Devil who advanced farther than the second round at the tournament. This was her second semifinal tournament appearance of the season. McCain suffered her loss in the semifinals to third-seed Bea Bielik of Wake Forest, 3-6, 1-6. McCain and Duke junior Julie De Roo also played in the doubles competition.
"I thought I played really well," McCain said. "[De Roo and I] have been working together. I don't know if we'll stay together, but so far we've been doing fine. We're two small people on the court, so that can be troublesome at times."
The tournament is the nation's most prestigious collegiate indoor tennis tournament. Over 600 schools compete in it, and it contains a 32-player singles field and a 16-team doubles field, making competition extremely tough. McCain is at present ranked 49th nationally in the preseason. In the quarterfinals of the tournament, the freshman upset No. 1 seed Jessica Lehnhoff of Stanford 6-2, 6-3.
The freshman continued the Blue Devils' streak of having at least one player in the semifinals. Last year, Duke senior Kathy Sell advanced to the semifinals. and then-freshman Ansley Cargill made it to the final.
Duke players Amanda Johnson and DeRoo also competed in the Omni Hotels Tournament. Johnson defeated Alexis Gordon 6-1, 7-6 in the first round of the singles consolation. Jessica Rush of Northwestern beat DeRoo 3-6, 1-6. In the second round, Johnson fell 5-7, 6-0, 5-7 in an upset to Courtney Bergman of Harvard.
"I am pretty excited right now," McCain said. "Everything is clicking as I am playing pretty well right now. I want to... eventually win one of these tournaments."
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