By Shawn Wansley
JCJC Sports Information Director

ELLISVILLE – “Successful” would be a good word to describe the Jones County Junior College tennis fortunes in 2009.

The Lady Bobcats captured the MACJC state title, took third in the Region 23 Tournament and finished 25th in the nationals in Tucson, Ariz. The men’s team finished fourth in the state and just missed out on qualifying for the regionals.

The Bobcats began fall practice just after Labor Day and 11th-year head coach Mark Easley said evaluation is a focal point of those workouts.

“We use the fall to work on things, run some drills and play a few matches,” he said. “We scrimmage a good bit against each other. The fall is all about trying to find strengths and weaknesses of players and to see what positions they need to play. You are really just trying to improve and get ready for when you return in the spring.”

The Bobcats will have plenty of experience returning from those solid teams of last year. Five women and six men are back from the 2009 spring season.

“We have a lot of guys and girls returning,” he said. “We have six new players – three guys and three girls – and they will add some things to our team. I think our guys – top to bottom – will be one of the most well-balanced teams we’ve ever had. There is not a lot of difference in the top four players and there is not a lot of difference in the next five players after that.

“So, we will have some very good competition to see who will play.”

Jones will also field two larger rosters than normal. There will be ten players on the women’s roster and nine on the men’s roster.

“I usually don’t try to keep more than eight per team,” said Easley. “It’s hard to get them enough work because they all cannot play, but they all understand that and have great attitudes. They know they will have to work and fight for a position.

“Also, it’s hard to find that many players in a given year. We signed a number of freshmen last year and we could not just go out and sign just one or two this year. That would leave us in a weak position next year. But it’s a good problem to have because we have a number of area kids interested in our program.”

Returning sophomores for the Lady Bobcats include Meredith Johnson of Northeast Jones, Mary Carole Kiewit of Laurel (home school), Tiffany Hudson of Wayne Academy, Rebecca Rogers of Oak Grove and Jillian McNeese of Laurel. Newcomers are Samantha Dickerson of George County, Mary Jo Goodin of Seminary and Lexi Bowen of Wayne Academy.

Two more freshmen from George County – Arlette Cochran and Dana Ivey – are currently on the Lady Bobcat soccer team and will join the tennis team at the conclusion of their season.

“We’ve got five good players returning, including our (No.’s) 3, 4, 5 and 6 players and a doubles player,” Easley said of the Lady Bobcats. “They are doing a good job and the incoming freshmen will add a lot to that group. The sophomores will be pushed for playing time by some of the freshmen. The competition is strong, but that’s a good problem to have.”

Easley said the Bobcats have plenty of promise on the men’s side, too.

“With the experience we have returning and the incoming freshmen, we should be OK,’ he said.

Returning sophomores include Tyler Shows of Petal, Mitchell Smith of Simpson Academy, Cody Kadoun and Nathan Kanengiser of Pearl, Eric Lynn of Gautier and Ray Moore of Hattiesburg. Freshmen are Armand Deniakos of Laurel (home school), Dalton Delk of South Jones and Nathan Burkett of Columbia.

“We are real pleased with that group,” Easley said. “Those three new guys – Armand, Dalton and Nathan – have been playing tennis a long time and that means a lot. A lot of times you will have guys on this level who are good athletes who just started playing in the past few years, but they have been playing quite a while.”

Easley also said the Bobcats have to go against teams with international players on both the men and women’s sides and that makes it difficult. But he says the whole key is to have a team with plenty of depth.

“We need to compete as well as we can in the top two spots where you could face an international player, but where you have to be strong is in the middle of the lineup and on down,” he said. “I am pleased with where we are right now. They have done a good job this fall.”

The constant rains throughout much of September caused a few problems, but Easley said the teams have been able to accomplish a lot on the court.

“It’s been a little wet, but we have been able to hit a little bit,” he said. “It’s been hot and humid at times and most of the players have been able to make it to practice, except for when they have labs. We’ve been fortunate because we have not had much sickness with all of the flu and other stuff going around.

“We have been able to get some work done when the weather has cooperated.”

Easley looks forward to another successful season.

“I think both teams should be solid, but you can never tell,” he said. “We’ve got some good sophomores returning and some very good freshmen coming in to play. We should have a solid foundation.”

The Bobcats have played a fall match with William Carey University and will play matches vs. East Central, Gulf Coast and Hinds before the fall cutoff date of Nov. 15.

The MACJC tennis coaches were scheduled to meet on Oct. 1 to determine playing dates for 2010. The schedule will be released at a later date, but the regular season will begin in late February.