WC tennis finishes 15th at nationals

The Weatherford College women's tennis team finished 15th out of 29 teams at the NJCAA National Tournament in Tyler May 6-9. 

"The girls fought hard this week, I'm proud of them," said Mitch Vechione, WC head coach. "A lot of things have to go right at the national tournament, especially with just four girls, and we just got a bit too unlucky with the draws this year." 

Weatherford won each of its first-round singles and doubles matches, showing early success. 

WC's Marija Ristanovic won her first Flight 1 singles match over Mia Falconi (College of Lake County, Illinois) 6-0 6-0. She lost to Alexandra Melnikova (Cowley College, Kansas) 6-1, 6-0. 

In Flight 2, Agathe Vaillant defeated Jane League (Central Alabama CC) 6-2, 6-0. Esmee Andresen (Hillsborough CC, Florida) beat Vaillant 6-1, 6-0. 

Linda Brandt took her Flight 3 opener over Martina Paillet (Wallace State CC, Alabama). Brandt lost to Ita Habekovic (Hillsborough) 6-3, 6-3. 

Telma Lorenzo Herreros defeated Jhastine Red Ballado (Collin College) in Flight 4, 6-2, 6-2. Ntokozo Zungu (Cowley College, Kansas) defeated Herreros 6-2, 6-1. 

In doubles, WC Flight 1 team Brandt and Vaillant took care of League and Blakely Valdez (Central Alabama) 6-1, 6-1. Isabela Mercante and Kyoka Ueno (St. Petersburg College, Florida) defeated Brandt and Vaillant in the second round, 6-2, 6-4. 

Herreros and Ristanovic opened with a Flight 2 win over Kendall Burn and Hayden Hensarling (Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) 7-5, 6-7, 6-4. The pair lost to Arina Babenko and Zungu (Cowley) 6-3, 6-1. 

The tournament wrapped up WC's second year of women's tennis after a two decade absence. The college is adding men's tennis for the 2023-24 academic year.