MCC tennis teams sweep Region 23 tournament titles

from school reports
The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — Meridian Community College men’s team claimed their fifth consecutive Region 23 title today and the women’s team claimed their fourth consecutive Region 23 title.

What could have been a dismal day for the Meridian men turned into a celebration. Itawamba’s men were favored going into the tournament as they came into the Region tournament as the MACJC State Champs. Meridian lost their last outing to Itawamba March 22, 6-3. Meridian’s women were the favored team as they were undefeated in regular season play in the region.

At the end of the first day of play Meridian led the pack by one point with seven, Itawamba had six, Hinds three and Jones two. In number one men’s singles, ICC’s Ethan Wilkerson won the flight with wins over Mikhail Percherkin (Hinds) 6-0, 6-2 in the finals and Sam Thorold (Jones) 6-3, 6-1 in the semis. Meridian’s Matic Leskovar lost the first round to Pecherkin 7-5, 6-3. At the number two flight Meridian’s top-seeded Simon Bardell defeated Nick Williams (Jones) 6-1, 6-2 and ICC’s Jeremy Falls 6-3, 6-1 in the semis. Hinds number two Nikita Lisov lost to Williams (Jones) in the semis 6-3, 6-3. At the number 3 flight MCC’s top-seeded Andres Yepez defeated Jones’ Cade Sherman in three hard -fought sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and in the semis he defeated Donnel Myles (Hinds) 6-2, 6-1. Sherman advanced to the finals with a win over ICC’s Wesley Raines 6-2, 6-4. ICC’s Alex Thomas won the four flight with wins over MCC’s Zach Marroy 7-6(5), 7-5 and Hinds’ Jeremy Robinson 6-2, 6-1. Marroy advanced to the finals with a big win over Jones’ Armand Deniakos 7-6(4), 6-4. ICC also took the five flight with a win by Luke Wilson over MCC’s Will Huntington. Wilson advanced to the finals with a win over Jones’ Josh Agee and Huntington defeated Hnds’ Morgan Brashire in the semis. At six, MCC’s Trey Webb came through big time with a win over ICC’s Jeff Hamm 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Going into the doubles’ action MCC led ICC by one point, so it was still any team’s title. At the number one flight Hinds’ Nikita Lisov and Mikhail Pecherkin helped MCC out when they won the flight with a win over the top-seeded ICC team of Ethan Wilkerson/Leon Prudencio 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. MCC’s 3 doubles Huntington/Webb lost to ICC’s Thomas/Wilson just minutes before MCC’s 2 doubles team Marroy/Yepez won a three- setter over Jones’ Williams/Deniakos to clinch the Region title for Meridian. Meridian finished the tournament with 11 points, ICC 10 points, and Jones and Hinds tied with 3 points each. Meridian’s men will now advance to the National Tournament to be held in Plano, TX May 15-20.

In women’s action Meridian had a clean sweep taking all nine courts. They did not lose a set the entire two-day tournament. Claiming the number one singles for MCC was Monica Rekkedal, at two Savannah Zachry, at three Indi Mire, at four Kaley Allen, at five Shelley Munn, and at six Cecilly Monsour. Winning the number one flight doubles for Meridian was the team of Savannah Zachry/Indi Mire. Shelley Munn, a former West Lauderdale player, and partner Monica Rekkedal won the two flight, and Kaley Allen and Cecilly Monsour took the win at three doubles for Meridian. The women certainly had to fight hard on several courts to claim All Region honors. At the number five singles ICC’s Mandy Collins pushed Shelley Munn to a 15-13 tie break for the first set. Shelley then won the second 7-5. The number one (Rekkedal) and two singles (Zachry) and the number one doubles (Mire/Zachry) came into the tournament seeded second as they had not faced Hinds during the regular season. Meridian finished the day with a perfect score of 18 points, Hinds 5, and ICC 4. Meridian’s women now advance to the National Tournament to be held in Tucson, AZ May 7-12.

According to Coach McPhail who is in her eleventh year as men’s and women’s tennis coach, “this has been an interesting year for Meridian tennis. The men’s team is one that I am the most proud of as six of the seven players are freshman. I have told them all season that we had to grow up mentally if we were going to keep the title in Meridian. I have a great group of guys and girls who have excelled all year on the courts and in the classroom as a whole. They have come together as a team, and I am extremely pleased with the determination and hard work I saw this week.

"The women had to overcome adversity as well early in the season when we lost our number three player at Christmas due to a should injury which resulted in surgery. As a coach, I had to completely rework my doubles who had played together in the fall. Doubles is like a marriage, “Players have to learn what the other one is doing to be a team,” so the girls had their work cut out for them. They have been a great group of ladies for two years as four of these ladies are sophomores.”