Eagles Double Down

MCC men, women grab Region 23 titles

By Daniel Rigdon / Sports Writer The Meridian Star


MERIDIAN — Wednesday was a great day to be a Meridian Community College Eagle tennis player as both the men's and women's teams captured the Region 23 Championship at Northeast Tennis Center. The wins mark the seventh region title for each.

The women had no problems getting victories as Meridian swept all nine of the championship matches in the tournament.

ITA All-American Anna Vavrik got things going early as she defeated Jones County Junior College's Mary Carole Kiewit 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 1 singles spot. Aline Ferreira prevailed over Mississippi Gulf Coast's Victoria Hagel 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 2, while Savannah Zachry followed suit blanking JCJC's Tiffany Hudson in the No. 3 final.

Also claiming titles for MCC's women were Jessica Halterman at No. 4 (6-4, 6-0) over JCJC's Rebecca Rogers; Kaley Allen at the No. 5 and Indi Mire at the six spot.

Jones County also had women in five of the six singles championship matches.

The No.1 doubles team of Vavrik and Ferreira, No. 2 doubles combo of Halterman and Zachary and the No. 3 team of Shelley Munn and Sumner Brown all clinched championships in straight set victories.

The Lady Eagles have now claimed the Region 23 Title seven of the last eight years.

JCJC took second place and MGCCC came in third.

The MCC men did not enjoy as comfortable a lead heading into "Finals Day" with Itawamba Community College nipping at their heels.

"It was kind of a tough day," said MCC coach Wanda McPhail. "There were a couple of matches that I thought we should have won and we didn't. I thought we should have sealed it before now, but the kids came through when they had to and I am happy for them."

Meridian was able to distance itself just enough in the end as timely doubles' victories by the No. 2 duo of Gabriel Nicotra and Jeremy Purdum and the No. 3 team of Brandyn Landry and Wade Henderson sealed the deal for the Eagles. Both teams claimed their titles over ICC in heated matches.

Noctra took the win in the No. 2 finals in a tight three setter 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 over Hinds' Misha Pecherkin, while Andres Cepede and Kyle Dew each won their finals at the No. 3 and No. 6 positions respectively.

Lucio Cangiano and Wade Henderson each suffered losses in their finals. Cangiano was defeated by Hinds' Nikita Lisov 6-3, 7-5, while Henderson fell 6-1, 6-2 to ICC's Alex Thomas.

Meridian took the championships by three points over second-place finisher Itawamba. Hinds went for a third place finish.

With the wins both the men and women's teams advance to the NJCAA National Championship Tournament. The women's championship is held in Tuscon, AZ April 30-May 6, while the men will travel to Plano, TX May 9-14.

"Nationals are very tough," added McPhail. "I've kept up with schools from all over this year and everybody is good. Not as many teams go to nationals so your chances of getting a good draw are not good.

"They will go out there and play hard and hang tough. We will be competitive."

Coach McPhail was honored at the tournament as Region 23 Coach of the Year for both the women and men's divisions.