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Complete Forecast for  May 17 2008

From Staff Reports

TUCSON, Ariz. — The top-ranked Tyler Junior College Apache Ladies won all nine of their matches on Monday at the NJCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship. They also qualified for the quarterfinals in all six singles flights and remained perfect through two days.

Sophomore Ashley Irvin was involved in the most drama. Seeded eighth in Flight 1, Irvin had to rally to beat unseeded Laone Botshoma of Eastern Arizona, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“She didn’t play well in the singles,” said TJC head coach John Peterson. “Ashley started slow and played tentatively the whole match.”

Irvin then played two doubles matches in the top flight. The unseeded Irvin and Priscillia Villemond won their first-round match over Cevannah Cox and Jane Bohlman of Snead State (Ala.), 6-1, 6-0.

The TJC sophomores played No. 7 seed Hillsborough (Fla.) in the Round of 32, and again Irvin had to take part in a rally. Nachell Proctor and Elisa Leeder won the first set 7-6, but Irvin and Villemond controlled the next two sets, 6-4, 6-2, to pull off the key victory.

“That was a good win for us, bumping into Hillsborough,” Peterson said. “I guess a lot of people think they (Hillsborough) are the ones that are going to win the tournament. We were unseeded and we didn’t earn the right in that particular position to be seeded.”

The doubles win for Irvin also avenged a singles loss to Proctor in the third-place match of the ITA National Small College Championships last fall.

Comparatively, the rest of the Apache Ladies barely broke a sweat at the Randolph Tennis Center.

Ashley Longoria, Sureena Weir and Iris Rendon all won 6-0, 6-0 on Monday. Kelly Rittenhouse dropped two games in Flight 6 and Villemond lost four games in the second flight.

TJC opened Flight 2 doubles with a 6-0, 6-0 win from Longoria and Weir.

Third-seeded Rendon and Rittenhouse received one of five first-round byes in Flight 3 doubles.

The national tournament has played out mostly according to script the first two days.

TJC is undefeated, but second-ranked Hillsborough has the one loss against the Apache Ladies in doubles.

Defending national champion Lee College suffered a first-round loss in Flight 4 singles — the Lady Rebels’ only setback thus far.

On Monday, Jo’Vonna Gaines of North Central Texas defeated the No. 7 seed from Barton County (Kan.) in Flight 4.

North Central, which tied for fifth last year, suffered an upset loss in Flight 6.

In today’s quarterfinals, Irvin appears to be in the most danger of giving TJC its first loss. She has to play No. 2 seed Kasia Siwosz of Cowley County (Kan.), who defeated Irvin in three sets back in the fall. The two met in the semifinals of the ITA National Small College Championships.

Siwosz is also the defending national champion in Flight 1.

In TJC’s other singles quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Villemond takes on No. 8 Sara Flores of Collin County; No. 4 Longoria plays No. 6 Ashton Hartley of Meridian (Miss.); No. 2 Weir plays No. 8 Morgan Mericle of Kalamazoo Valley (Mich.); No. 2 Rendon faces No. 8 Erica Herrera of Seward (Kan.); and No. 3 Rittenhouse plays No. 5 Mandy Bowling of Collin County.

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TJC Women’s Results

Round of 16

Singles

Flight 1

Ashley Irvin (8), Tyler, def. Laone Botshoma, Eastern Arizona, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 Flight 2 Priscillia Villemond (2), Tyler, def. Kelly Sterling, Meridian (Miss.), 6-1, 6-3 Flight 3 Ashley Longoria (4), Tyler, def. Ashley Lowery, Florida CC, 6-0, 6-0 Flight 4 Sureena Weir (2), Tyler, def. Victoria Martinez, Temple, 6-0, 6-0 Flight 5 Iris Rendon (2), Tyler, def. Debra Warren, Muskegon (Mich.), 6-0, 6-0 Flight 6 Kelly Rittenhouse (3), Tyler, def. Jennifer Ackerly, Johnson County (Kan.), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

Flight 1

Round of 64

Irvin-Villemond def. Cevannah Cox-Jane Bohlman, Snead State, 6-1, 6-0 Round of 32 Irvin-Villemond def. Nachell Proctor-Elisa Leeder (7), Hillsborough (Fla.), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 Flight 2 Longoria-Weir (3) def. Jenn Hamel-Eunice Sanchez, Pima (Ariz.), 6-0, 6-0 Flight 3 Rendon-Rittenhouse (3), bye