By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
April 17, 2004
Business was good in the opening round of the MACJC State/NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament at the Northeast Tennis Center Friday and it's about to pick up today.
Five teams will be vying for three berths in the NJCAA National Tournament at College Station, Texas, which begins the first of May.
After one day in the state/region tournament, Hinds led with 14 points. The Lady Eagles qualified for all nine events in today's semifinal play. No other team will have more than seven qualifiers for the semifinals.
Jones was second with 12 points. The Bobcats are qualified for five events today. Three teams were tied for third place with 10 points each. Meridian, Copiah-Lincoln, and Itawamba each have 10 points. MCC, however, has qualified for seven events today, while Itawamba will play in six and Co-Lin only in four.
Singles semifinals are slated to begin at 9 a.m. today with doubles semifinals to follow at 10:30 a.m. Singles championships get under way at 2 p.m. with the doubles championships slated for 4 p.m.
(Saturday). We've got several teams with several of their players still in the draw. Some of us meet each other in the semifinals.
Hinds advanced Brett Anderson, Ney Ney Foster, Jenny Farris, Ashley Patterson, Kimberly Cox, and Katie Gay Garrison to the semifinals in singles with the teams of Anderson-Foster and Farris-Garrison moving to the semifinal round in doubles along with the No. 3 team which did not play on Friday.
Jones was in second place as Jordan Ladner, Carrie Clark, Krista Rogers, and Jenci Bowen all reached the semifinal round in singles with the team of Clark and Ashley Hughes advancing in doubles.
Jones finished 10-4 in dual matches during the regular season. All four losses were to Hinds and Meridian.
MCC advanced Amy Cole, Amy Frazier, Britley Kimbriel, Melissa Kimbriel, and Michelle Clearman to semifinal play in singles and the teams of Frazier-Britley Kimbriel and Melissa Kimbriel-Belle Naugher in doubles.
Moving to the semifinal round for Co-Lin are Ashley Hall and Mary McCombs in singles with the teams of Hall-Sadie Corban and McCombs-Kari Martin qualifying in doubles.
Qualifying for today's play for Itawamba are Anna Claire Wood, Melinda Edwards, Laurie Black, and Brittany Wilburn in singles with the teams of Wood-Amanda Garrett and Black-Wiburn advancing in doubles action.