Division 1 of MCCC Women’s Tennis has experienced seven wins and three losses this season. The team started with a 7-2 win against Harford CC, Maryland. Since then, they never committed a loss on a local ground. The only losses they received were when they went down to South Carolina to compete against three of the top 10 teams in the country, receiving 3 losses out of 3 games.
Makenna Swasey, a first-year biology student and number five on the roster says that the games in South Carolina were not an easy wipeout.
Swasey says, “We definitely fought our hardest and all those scores might not show it, but it definitely showed when we were playing.”
Last year the team was two players short, which caused them to automatically lose points. This year, they have a full roster of six players, which is enough for a line-up. Since MCCC’s Women’s Tennis is in Division 1, they can recruit players from all over the world.
Despite this, head coach Marc Vecchiolla says that since we are a community college, he likes to look into the community first when recruiting players.
That is how MCCC recruited the number one player on the team, first year Business Administration student Leticia Kitio, who has a concentration on sports management.
Being the first to ever win a Mercer County Tournament in Lawrence High School’s history, Kitio says that she has improved a lot since she joined Mercer’s team last semester.
Kitio says, “In South Carolina we were on the court for almost three or four hours. Before, I could not do this, especially in the burning hot sun.”
Coach Vecchiolla has been in charge of MCCC’s Women’s Tennis since 1997.
Vecchiolla says, “[Kitio is] really probably one of the best players we’ve had in the history of the college.”
Kitio has been undefeated all season, aside from the games at South Carolina, “It was not what I expected but I am glad that I played. We got a little taste of what we are gonna get in Texas, and I am really excited to dominate there,” she added.
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), has selected Tyler Junior College to host the 2024 NJCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship, where the Mercer Vikings will compete. They will be flying to Texas on May 2, and stay there until May 8.
The team’s captain, Valeria Vargas, a business administration student in her third semester, says that nationals is their main goal right now. She added that she expects her teammates to keep working hard and improve in these last three weeks.
Vargas says, “We’ll play against one of the best teams in the nation.”
Barb Pleva, a former player, and an assistant coach for more than 20 years of Women’s Tennis, said that she expects them to do well at the nationals.
Pleva says, “This team is definitely the strongest team we’ve ever had.”
Vecchiolla says, “I don’t look at wins and losses in a season to measure its success. If you work hard and your attitude is good, the wins will take care of themselves. We just want to be better tennis players and better people at the end of the season.”
Makenna says, “My favorite part of being on the team is to have people who lift you up when you’re beating yourself down.”
