Nine Mississippi Christian University tennis players are scheduled to compete in the inaugural Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II Singles & Doubles Championships, listed for Nov. 4-8 at the Tuscaloosa Tennis Center in Alabama. The team’s roster for the event includes five men and four women.
The Choctaws and Lady Choctaws enter the national tournament after winning three titles at the Gulf South Conference Fall Tennis Championships. Mattia Ricci and Matias Ruiz claimed the men’s Flight 1 doubles championship, beating Alex Escofet Berge and Maxim Goncharov 8-3. Ann Cabot Stockett and Emily Buchanan won the women’s Flight 1 doubles title, defeating Rima Yoshida and Marqaylar Tere 8-6.
Josh Hinton took the men’s Flight 5 singles championship. Charles Lefort reached the Flight 4 singles final and finished runner-up. In other men’s singles results, Sergio Ramirez Ocana placed third in Flight 2 and Julius Tan was third in Flight 3. Ricci and Florian Walcher each reached the Flight 1 quarterfinals with 3-1 records.
Ramirez Ocana and Walcher were runners-up in Flight 2 doubles, while Lefort and Hinton finished 3-1 in Flight 1. For the women, Eva Zwyrtek placed third in Flight 3 and Lily Fule took third in Flight 5. Stockett and Rune van Wyk each posted 3-1 records in Flight 1 singles.
The conference results followed two titles at the ITA South Regional Championships, held Oct. 16-19 in Lakeland, Florida. Buchanan won the women’s singles title without losing a set, beating Luca Bohlen 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Buchanan and Stockett reached the women’s doubles final, where they lost in a deciding match tiebreaker. Katharina Weber and Klara Podskubkova also advanced to the semifinals.
Hinton and Lefort won the men’s regional doubles title after five straight victories. They defeated Matias Iturbe and Kuzma Gomziakov 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 10-8 in the final. Alejandro Vizoso Ansedes reached the men’s singles quarterfinals after three consecutive wins.
The national championships are scheduled to include 32-player singles draws and 32-team doubles draws for both men and women. Each competitor is guaranteed at least three matches, according to the source.
