Aztecs Women's Tennis Take Second Place at Region I Championships

The Pima Community College women's tennis team closed out the Region I Championships on Wednesday at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.

The Aztecs advanced to eight of the possible nine championship matches and finished in second place. Mesa Community College won the Region I team championship.

In singles competition, the Aztecs dropped all five single championship matches to Mesa players. Sophomore Stephanie Nickles (Ironwood Ridge HS) won the first set in her No. 4 singles match and rallied in the second set after trailing 1-4 to tie it at 4-4. She fell in the end 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Naa Ankrah.

Sophomore Kelsey Brown (Ironwood Ridge HS) fell in her No. 1 singles match to Emily Chang 6-1, 6-1 while freshman Samantha Ruth (Catalina Foothills HS) lost to Khanh Huynh 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

Sophomore Ema Hernandez (Sunnyside HS) dropped her No. 5 singles match to Hanna Nelson 6-1, 6-0 and freshman Fernanda Miller (Nogales HS) lost to Maria Garduno at No. 6 singles 6-1, 6-0.

All three of Pima's doubles teams also advanced to the championship round but fell to the Thunderbirds in the end. Brown and Ruth led the first set 3-1 but surrendered five straight set points. The fell to Chang and Huynh at No. 1 doubles 6-3, 6-2.

Sophomore Noelle Karp (Catalina Foothills HS) and Hernandez took a 3-0 lead in their first set but lost to Yolena Carlon and Garduno 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.

Nickels and Miller took a 3-2 lead in the first set of their No. 3 doubles match but fell to Nelson and Julia Ortiz 6-4, 6-0.

The Aztecs will compete in the NJCAA National Tournament in Tyler, TX on May 7-13. 

Semifinal match-ups:

Doubles:

No. 1: Kelsey Brown/Samantha Ruth, PCC, def. Amelie Saint-Dizier/Nikita Hill, Eastern AZ, 6-1, 6-2

No. 2: Noelle Karp/Ema Hernandez, PCC, def. Joanne Uzzanti/Erica Wolford, Paradise Valley, 6-1, 6-1

No. 3: Stephanie Nickles/Fernanda Miller, PCC, def. Madison Zeller/Bianca Amaya, Paradise Valley, 6-1, 6-0

Here's a list of the Pima players who were named to the All-Conference teams:

Samantha Ruth – No. 2 Singles

Stephanie Nickles – No. 4 Singles

Ema Hernandez – No. 5 Singles

Fernanda Miller – No. 6 Singles

Stephanie Nickles and Fernanda Miller – No. 3 Doubles

Aztecs Women's Tennis team (left to right): Ema Hernandez, Dana Pineda, Fernanda Miller, Noelle Karp, Kelsey Brown, Stephanie Nickles and Samantha Ruth/Photo by Raymond Suarez