SCF Tennis Finishes 5th at NJCAA Nationals

For day three and four at the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas, the SCF tennis team pulled in winning only one singles match and the Flight 2 Consolation Doubles Championship before finishing their season. The Manatees finished tied for fifth place with Cowley College with 26 points. The eventual overall winner of the national title was #1 ASA Miami as they finished with 47 points. #3 Hillsborough would finish as the runner-up.

Beginning with singles, freshman Sara Ramirez-Goncalves (#4 seed) would be the first to finish her match at Flight 3 Singles by defeating sophomore Kely de Souza Oliveira (Laredo CC) with a 6-1 pair decision. The native of Cancun, Mexico has advanced to the semifinals and will face the #1 seed freshman Irina Lapustina (ASA Miami). Lapustina defeated sophomore Nicole Maldonado (Collin College) 6-1, 6-0.

Following Ramirez-Goncalves win, the Manatees lost two matches in the quarterfinals as freshman Britain Bostford fell 6-0, 6-4 to #3 seed freshman Julia Khamula (Tyler) at Flight 5 Singles while sophomore Sara Jamal fell 6-2, 6-3 to Lucie Devier (Tyler) at Flight 2 Singles.

Sophomore Camille Portalier would lose 6-4, 6-2 to freshman Georgina Kaindoah (Cowley College) at Flight 4 singles before sophomore Laura Illanes-Rodriguez fell in three sets at Flight 6 Singles to sophomore Coraline Lamer (Cowley College) 6-0. 3-6, 1-6.

In doubles play, Sara Jamal and Ramirez-Goncalves fought in three sets against the freshmen duo of Michaela Krauskova and Tatiana Simova (ASA Miami) losing 6-4, 2-6, 3-6 at Flight #1 doubles, while the duo of Botsford and sophomore Diarra Thomas fell 6-3, 6-2 to the #1 seeded freshman duo of Zulay Castaneda and Ji-Youn Lee (ASA Miami) at flight 3 doubles, the eventual winner.

At the Flight 2 Consolation doubles quarterfinals, despite rain coming in, Zeba Jamal and Portalier fought hard against sophomore Sofia Guaglianon and freshman Nora Ribeiro (Abraham Baldwin) and managed to pull away with a 6-0 win and advance to the semifinals. From there, the duo faced the sophomore duo of Monika Cantu and Priscilla Morales (Laredo CC) winning 6-2 in one set and went on to face the freshman duo of Kristina Laboone and Sarah Rushing (Central Alabama CC), who defeated the freshman duo of Jenese Fulgenzi and Venus Ubiebi (NM Military) 6-2, in the championship match. With one final push, Jamal and Portalier managed to defeat Fulgenzi and Ubiebi 6-2 in the finals to claim the title.

At the other doubles matches, Kaindoah and freshman Takalani Molaoa (Cowley) won the Flight 1 Consolation Doubles Finals after defeating Morgan Bishop and Olivia Hayes (Central Alabama) 6-4, while at the Flight 3 Consolation Doubles, the freshmen duo Chrissy Cruz and Kailee Upchurch won after defeating freshmen Gabby Herzog and Sara Martin (Barton CC) 6-3.

After the quarterfinals ended, the rest of the tournament was moved to the Turpin Stadium & Brookshire Family Pavilion at Southern Methodist University in Dallas due to the inclement weather. From there, Ramirez-Goncalves would fall to Lapustina 6-0, 6-3. Lapustina would eventually win the Flight 3 Singles Championship after defeating freshman Summer Yardley (Tyler) 6-2, 6-3.

The winners of the singles and double matches are in order by flight:

Singles:

1. Maria Genovese (Tyler) def Hana Kvapilova (HCC) 6-1, 6-0
2. Tatiana Simova (ASA Miami) def Lucie Devier (Tyler) 6-1,6-2
3.  Irina Lapustina (ASA Miami) def Summer Yardley (Tyler) 6-2, 6-3
4. Helena Jensen (Tyler) def Shaylee Syme (HCC) 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
5. Michaela Kraskova (ASA Miami) def Renata Gonzalez-Leon (HCC) 6-1, 6-1
6. Ji-Youn Lee (ASA Miami) def Lolita Kozina (HCC) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles:
1. Michaela Kraskova and Tatiana Simova (ASA Miami) def Lucie Devier and Maria Genovese (Tyler) 6-1, 6-4
2. Helena Jensen and Summer Yardley (Tyler) def 7-6 (3), 6-1
3. Renata Gonzalez and Fabiola Candal-Ranalli def Zulay Castaneda and Ji-Youn Lee (ASA Miami) 6-2, 6-4.

Final Results
1. ASA Miami (47)
2. HCC (42)
Tyler (42)
4. Broward (27.5)
5. Cowley (26)
SCF (26)
7. SPC (25.5)
8.Seward County (23)
9. Collin (19)
10. Laredo (18)
North Central Texas (18)
12. Abraham Baldwin (16.5)
Barton (16.5)
14. Copiah-Lincoln (15.5)
15. Meridian (14)
16. Mesa (13.5)
17. Wallace State (10.5)
18. Central Alabama (10)
19. New Mexico Military (9.5)
20. Lewis & Clark (8.5)
21. Jones (7.5)
22. Snead State (7)
23. Lake County (6)
Pima (6)
25. Harford (5.5)
26. Iowa Central (5)
27. Eastern Arizona (3.5)
28. Marion Military (2)
29. Mississippi Gulf Coast (1)
30. Moraine Valley (0.5)
31. Jacksonville (0)
Mercer County (0)

In the end, all the players with their following records in singles and doubles:
Singles-
Sara Jamal (8-9)
Zeba Jamal (5-11)
Botsford (8-10)
Ramirez-Goncalves (13-4)
Portalier (7-10)
Illanes-Rodriguez (10-7)

Doubles:
Ramirez-Goncalves/Sara Jamal (8-10)
Thomas/Botsford (10-8)
Portalier/Zeba Jamal (13-8)

Nonetheless, I'm proud of all of them and what they've done for SCF. The roads at SCF for the sophomores are done, but their journeys are not yet over.