MCC tennis players compete in National Small College Championships

MCC Sports Info

Sierra Woolery and Alycia LeMerle from Meridian Community College recently competed in the National Small College Championships on October 12-15 at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. Woolery and LeMerle gained a berth into these championships after competing in the Southeast Regional ITA held in Alexander City, Alabama, September 22-24. Woolery won the Regional single’s title and LeMerle and Woolery were selected as at-large representatives in the doubles.

Play began on Thursday at 8:00 a.m. Woolery faced Jessica Miller from Sierra College in California in the opening round and won 6-0, 6-1. On Friday, she played the #2 ranked player in the JUCO rankings, Hirokoa Nishikawa of Japan from Hillsborough Community College in Florida and was defeated 6-4, 6-0. Woolery then faced Kalei Gora from Lee College in Texas and lost 6-4, 6-1. Woolery finished the tournament fourth out of eight competitors.

In double’s action, Woolery and partner, Alycia LeMerle from Melbourne, Australia defeated Andrea Collomb and Michele Gray of Ventura College in California 6-0, 6-2. In second round action, the MCC pair faced Hanane Toumi and Kasia Siwosz (no. 700 in the world) of Cowley College, Indiana, losing 6-1, 6-1. They then faced the Itawamba, Mississippi team of Maria Djuran (Serbia) and Krystal Ozols (Sidney, Australia) and lost in three sets – 1-6, 7-5, 9-11 (match tie-break). The MCC doubles team of Woolery/LeMerle finished in fourth place behind Itawamba CC’s Ozols/Djuran.

The overall ITA "Super Bowl" of Small College Tennis champions earned wild cards into the Nov. 2-5 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, hosted by The Ohio State University in Columbus. This tournament is the second of three national championships for Division I tennis and offers the small college participants the opportunity to become champions for all divisions of collegiate tennis.

This event is presented by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and administered by the ITA. It dates back to 1986 and determines champions for NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College men’s and women’s singles and doubles during the first two-and-a-half days of play. Those champions will then compete to become the overall national small college champs (for all divisions) in the ITA “Super Bowl” of Small College Tennis.