MCC Players Capture Southern Regional ITA Championships

In weekend action at Tatum Park in Hattiesburg, MS, three MCC tennis players qualified for the National Small College Championships to be held in Mobile, AL October 15-18 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center.

The NSCC pits singles and doubles teams from eight regions across the United States against each other. The JUCO division winner then advances to compete against winners from NAIA, DII, and DIII. The overall winner of this tournament gets an invitation to the DI indoor championships to be held November 5-8 in New Haven, CT.

Lucio Cangiano of MCC was the No. 1 seed in the men’s single’s draw in a field of twenty-seven competitors from four MS community colleges. Cangiano drew a bye the first round. In the second round he defeated Luke Brady of Mississippi Gulf Coast 6-1, 6-0. He drew Hinds CC’s Mikhail Percherkin in the quarterfinals and won 6-2, 6-1. In the semifinals in what was his toughest match of the competition, he defeated teammate Andres Cepede 6-3, 7-6. In a match that lasted 3 ½ hours he defeated fellow teammate and countryman Gabriel Nicotra 7-6, 6-4.

In women’s singles MCC’s Anna Vavrik flew through the competition to bring home the championship and a second trip to the National Small College Championships. Anna finished her freshman season ranked no. six in the final ITA rankings and making her an ITA All-American in her first season of competition. Vavrik lost only two games the entire tournament. In the quarters she defeated Ruta Grinvalde of Latvia who plays for MGCCC 6-0, 6-1. In the finals Vavrik defeated fellow teammate Aline Ferreira (a sophomore transfer from Hinds CC) 6-0, 6-1.

In doubles action MCC’s men Lucio Cangiano and Andres Cepede fell in the finals to the Hinds CC team of Percherkin and Lisov 8-6. Percherkin and Lisov qualified for the NSCC with the win. In women’s doubles action, MCC’s Vavrik and Savannah Zachry, a freshman from Madison Central High School, defeated fellow teammates Jessica Halterman from East Webster High School and Aline Ferreira 8-2 to take the championship.