Oropeza and Pineda advance to the second round at NJCAA National Tournament

The Pima Community College women's tennis team opened play in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament on Sunday at the Jim Reffkin Tennis Center.

The Aztecs picked up four points on the day as freshman Emma Oropeza (Nogales HS) and sophomore Dana Pineda (University HS) picked up wins in singles competition.

Oropeza defeated Courtney Decker from Waubansee Community College (IL) 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. She never trailed in points but had to fight off a couple of rallies. Oropeza led 4-1 in the first set but Decker cut it to 4-3. In the second set, Oropeza led 5-2 but it was cut to 5-4 at one point.

Pineda earned a shutout victory to advance over Jennelle Stolarczuk from the College of DuPage (IL) 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles.

Oropeza and Pineda move on to the round of 16. Oropeza will play No. 2 seeded Ceire Mullins from Hillsborough Community College (FL) on Monday at 7:30 a.m. Pineda will play No. 5 seeded Julia Ortiz from Mesa Community College at 9:00 a.m.

In other first round singles matches, freshman Lien Nguyen held a 6-5 lead in the first set but fell in the tie-breaker and eventually dropped the match at No. 3 singles to Kallie Beall from Central Alabama 7-6 (3), 6-2. Freshman Elise Rodriguez (Flowing Wells HS) also dropped a late lead in the first set as she led 5-4 but fell to Mariah Turney from Seminole State College (OK) 7-6 (2), 6-1 at No. 6 singles.

Nguyen will play in the second round of the consolation bracket at No. 3 singles on Monday at 11:30 a.m. Rodriguez will also play in the second round of the No. 6 singles consolation bracket at 1:00 p.m. Both opponents are to be determined.

Freshman Jayme Shafer (Tucson HS) dropped her match at No. 5 singles to Cyrielle Peyroche from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (GA) 6-0, 6-2 while freshman Janine Fernando (Sabino HS) was shutout at No. 2 singles by Agustina Acuna from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College 6-0, 6-0.

Shafer will play in the second round of the consolation bracket at No. 5 singles at 12:30 p.m. Her opponent is to be determined.

Fernando will play Bianca Buie from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the first round of the consolation bracket on Monday at 11:30 p.m.

The Aztecs dropped all three doubles matches in the first round. Oropeza and Fernando fell at No. 1 doubles to Mikayla Lopez and Francisca Nyarko from the New Mexico Military Institute 6-2, 6-3 while Nguyen and freshman Ashley Ochoa (Tucson HS) dropped their No. 2 doubles match to Julianna Seabra and Julia Ramalho from Barton Community College (KS) 6-2, 6-3. Shafer and Rodriguez fell to Sarah McMillan and Jasmine Sartin from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 doubles.

All three doubles teams will play in the second round of their respected consolation brackets on Monday between 3:00-3:30 p.m.

Competition continues on Monday at the Jim Reffkin Tennis Center.

Stay up to date with team and individual results from each flight on the NJCAA website