By Shawn Wansley
JCJC Sports Information Director

HATTIESBURG – Talk about a team peaking at the right time.

The Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats entered the MACJC State Tennis Tournament playing with confidence and it showed on the courts.

The Lady Bobcats won five singles/doubles’ titles en route to claiming its first state championship since 1996 here Saturday at the Willis Terry Tennis Complex in Tatum Park.

“The girls had a great tournament and played really, really well,” said JCJC head coach Mark Easley. “I won’t say they were on a mission, but they came in as focused and played as well as they have all year in these three days. We had six participants in the finals and we win five of those six.

“You could see it developing as the year went along. We meshed well together and we played well together. We get along well with each other and pull for one another. As the season progressed, we got better and better. We won some gritty matches and that put us over the top.”

The Lady Bobcats ended the tournament with 29 points, followed by Hinds with 24 and Itawamba with 20. Those three teams qualify for the Region 23 Tournament, which will be held Tuesday-Wednesday in Meridian.

The bracket will be drawn Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and matches begin at 10:30 a.m. Semifinals will be held Tuesday and finals will be on Wednesday. The top three teams in the regional will go to nationals in Tucson, Ariz., May 2-7.

On the men’s side, the Bobcats came up just short of qualifying for the regionals. Hinds and Co-Lin had 22 points each, while Itawamba was third with 19 points and JCJC was fourth with 18.

Still, Easley was extremely pleased with the way his men’s team performed.

“You look at where we were at the start of the year with those guys and where we ended up and it’s unbelievable how far they have come,” he said. “We only had one returning sophomore (Casey Dykes) and six freshmen. We competed well during the season, got better as the season progressed and were playing well coming into the tournament.

“I am proud of the girls, but I could not be any more proud of the guys. They had a great tournament.”

To cap it all off, Easley was the recipient of a plaque, as well.

His fellow coaches voted him as the MACJC Women’s Coach of the Year.

“That was a surprise,” said Easley. “We started this last year. It used to be whoever won state was automatically named Coach of the Year. I thought that took away a little bit from what some coaches did with lesser talent and lesser ability to recruit international players. I brought it up and said we need to vote on a state Coach of the Year and whoever wins the region can be the region Coach of the Year.

“This is voted on by your peers and I am awfully honored and humbled to receive the award. But most of the credit goes to our players. We have a great group of girls and they have played well all year.”

WOMEN

Mary Carole Kiewit won the No. 4 singles crown with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 victory over Gulf Coast’s Victoria Hagel. Kiewit is a Laurel home school freshman.

“Mary Carole had lost to the Gulf Coast girl both times this season,” said Easley. “The first time was pretty bad and the second time was closer. It was a great match today, lasted about 2 ½ hours and Mary Carole showed a lot of determination.”

Wayne Academy freshman Tiffany Hudson claimed the No. 5 singles title with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Pearl River’s Kristen Barber. Oak Grove freshman Rebecca Rogers captured the No. 6 singles championship with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Charmayne Purvis of Gulf Coast.

Rogers then teamed with Laurel freshman Jillian McNeese to win the No. 3 doubles title with a 6-3, 7-5 decision over Ashley Dunlap and Lori Byrd of Itawamba.

Meredith Johnson and J.J. Benson defeated Sharika Trader and Hailee Melton of Hinds, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for the No. 2 doubles title. Johnson is a freshman from Northeast Jones and Benson is a sophomore from West Jones.

“J.J. and Meredith had lost to Hinds both times this season,” said Easley. “But J.J. was hurt earlier in the year with a bad ankle. It was a case where we knew we could beat them. We came out and won in three sets against a very good team.”

Johnson had lost earlier in the No. 3 singles’ finals to Trader, 6-3, 6-3.

“Meredith play well and came up short,” said Easley. “But just to get to that point really helped the team because she got us a lot of points.”

Easley said the depth of the Lady Bobcat team is the key. All matches count the same and Jones is strong from top to bottom.

“That’s the whole thing, one through six in singles and one through three in doubles was huge for us,” he said. “That’s what we try to do with our team is be strong throughout. Erica Walker and Rachel Whaley are our (No.) one and two players every time and they have tough matches all the time, especially against international players. They got four big points for us this week and then ran into the seeded players. We try to be as strong as we can with the bottom half of our lineup because that is where we are matched up with other American players, both men and women.

“As our guys and girls like to say, ‘We are the best ‘All-American’ team in the state.’”

The Lady Bobcats captured the state title for the first time in 13 years. JCJC finished second in 2005, but Easley said this year’s team ranks at the top.

“We had a really good team in 2005, but this team is probably the strongest from top to bottom that we’ve ever had,” he said. “I am just awfully proud of this group.”

MEN

Jones was in third place entering the finals, but only had two opportunities to gain points.

Mitchell Smith lost to Duffy Loel of Hinds, 6-2, 6-2 in the finals of No. 3 singles. Smith then teamed with Nathan Kanengiser in No. 3 doubles and they fell to Co-Lin’s Guillermo Chaves and Reilly Miller, 6-1, 6-4. Smith is a freshman from Simpson Academy and Kanengiser is a freshman from Pearl.

“To put ourselves in a position to qualify for regionals is something I never would have thought,” said Easley. “The guys came down here, really pulled together and played well. We had some clutch, three-set matches yesterday (Friday) where we were down two breaks in the third set, 5-2, and 4-0 in doubles down two breaks. We gutted it out and came back and won those matches.

“Those guys grew up a lot this weekend. These freshmen now understand what they can do. They played great and now they have to carry it over into the offseason. We are disappointed for them, but hopefully, we can build on this.”


FINAL STANDINGS
WOMEN

Jones 29, Hinds 24, Itawamba 20, Gulf Coast 10, Pearl River 9, Northeast 6, East Central 5, Southwest 1, Co-Lin 1, Holmes 0.

MEN Hinds 22*, Co-Lin 22, Itawamba 19, Jones 18, Pearl River 11, East Central 9, Gulf Coast 7, Southwest 2, Northeast 1, Holmes 0.

*-Hinds was competing vs. Itawamba in No. 1 doubles when the match was stopped by rain. Regardless of the outcome, Hinds would have the tiebreaker edge over Co-Lin and was named state champion.