MCC's Pimenta Claims Men's Single Title at USTA/ITA JUCO Championships

From School Reports 

The USTA/ITA Southern Regional JUCO Championships concluded a four-day tournament on Saturday with winners from three different junior colleges around the area.  The tournament began Wednesday night  with seventy-six singles players and thirty-five doubles teams.  The Southern JUCO is the one of the biggest among the ITA JUCO tournaments.  

Players from Copiah Lincoln Community College, East Central Community College, Hinds Community College, Holmes Community College, Marion Military Institute, Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and Meridian competed for an opportunity to take one male and one female singles player and a male and a female doubles team to the National Small College Championships, which will be held October 14-18 at Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina.  The National Small College is in an elite class as this is the only tournament in any sport that allows players an opportunity to compete against larger colleges.  

The National Small College Championships brings the best of the best from JUCO, DII, DIII, and NAIA. 

The winners of this tournament will get a chance to play at the Division I Indoor Championships to be held in November with the support of sponsors USTA/ITA.  

After four long days of play, the winners surfaced.  In singles play, Meridian CC’s Jason Pimenta took an early lead and breezed to the win over Marion’s Adam Bahney 6-2, 6-1.  

Pimenta came into the tournament as the number one seed, so he had a Bye the first round.  In the round of 32, Matthew Philley(Holmes) withdrew; Pimenta advanced to the Round of 16 before playing a match.  In the round of 16, Pimenta defeated Diep (Gulf Coast) o,o.  He then faced Gulf Coast’s Noah Tippen.  He did not lose a set on the way to the finals.  He also cruised past MMI’s Harry Foster 0,0.  East Central Community College’s Will Stewart won the consolation singles with a win over Hinds’ Chris Crapps 8-3.  

In men’s doubles, it was an all Marion Military final as Harry Foster/Andrew Wright defeated teammates Adam Bahney/Max Holloway 6-1, 6-3.  

Meridian’s Pimenta/Sam Bulter lost in the semifinals to Bahney/Holloway 8-6.  Foster/Wright advanced to the finals with a win over MGCCC’s Sam Blackburn/Brett Bowen 8-4.  

Foster/Wright took the tournament doubles from a pool of twenty double teams.  In the consolation finals, it was an all Meridian contest as the teams of John Taylor Champion/Nathan Hollis defeated MCC’s duo Walt Harrington/Noah James 8-5. Champion/Hollis moved to the consolation finals with a win over fellow teammates Will Irvin/Alex Vaughn 8-5.  Harrington/James defeated Hendon/Villarreal (Hinds) 8-2 to move to the consolation finals.

In women’s action, Meridian dominated play although Mississippi Gulf Coast won both championship berths. Meridian had five of eight players to advance to the quarterfinals.  In the round of 16, Paulina Estrada (GC) defeated East Central’s Brook Payen 0,0.  East Central’s Kaley Bufkinmoved to the semis by defeating Kaylen Cooper (Holmes) 2, 0.  Shelby Zachry (MCC) defeated Karah Younger (GC) 7-6 (5), 6-0 to advance.  Chaney Mills (ECCC) advanced to the quarters with a 1, 2 win over Katie Robinson (GC).  

Meridian’s freshman player, Hayden Hill, moved to the quarters with a win over Hannah Wegner (GC) 4, 0. Freshman Taylor Miller, (MCC) defeated Rachel Rhett (Hinds) 6-3, 3-6, 10-3.  Freshman Kyra Holway (Meridian) moved to the quarters with a win over Emily Dykeman (EC), 2, 4.  

The final match of this round had Meridian’s Paige Gibson, who was the number two seed, breezing past Angel Seals (GC) 0, 2.  These wins set up the all MCC matchups in the bottom half of the singles bracket. MCC’s Miller and Hill had a battle with Hayden Hill coming out the victor with a 4-6, 7-5, 10-2 win.  

Paige Gibson defeated freshman teammate Kyra Holway 3, 1 to advance to the semis.  Rounding out the quarterfinal matches had MCC’s Shelby Zachry defeating Chaney Mills (ECCC) 1, 3 and GC’s Paulina Estrada defeating ECCC’s Bufkin 0,1.  

In the semis, Paige Gibson put out her freshman teammate, Hayden Hill in two sets4, 2 .  Paulina Estrada (GC) defeated MCC’s Zachry 1, 2 to advance to the finals.  In Saturday action, Meridian’s Gibson fell in three sets to Paulina Estrada 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.  In doubles action, Estrada/Katie Robinson took the championships in three sets with a win over Zachry/Gibson (MCC) 5-7, 6-2, 10-2.  Gibson/Zachry won three matches to advance to the finals. In the opening round, they defeated McCrimon/McCrimon (ECCC) 8-1.  They then breezed past Meyers/Brown (Hinds) 8-0.  The MCC duo defeated Kaley Bufkin/Chaney Mills (ECCC) 8-2 to set up the final matchup with the number one doubles seed, Paulina Estrada/Katie Robinson. In other action, Meridian’s double team of Jami Daugherty/Taylor Miller fell in the quarters to Estrada/Robinson.  Alden Hartley/Kyra Holway were defeated by Hinds’ Rhett/Slusasz 9-7.  

The final Meridian duo, Hayden Hill/Brittany Allen fell in the first round of play to the number three seeds Kaley Bufkin/Chaney Mills (ECCC) 8-6.

The Meridian teams return to action Friday when they travel to Boaz, AL for dual matches with Gadsden State and Snead.