April 20, 2021

The East Central Community College Lady Warriors had a strong showing at the NJCAA Region XXIII Tournament on the campus of Jones College in Ellisville, April 15-17, with a fourth-place team finish. The Lady Warriors entered the event as the No. 6 seed, and the tournament was held as a team event, meaning whichever team won five of nine courts would get the win. 

In the opening round, the Lady Warriors defeated the No. 3 seeded Hinds Lady Eagles in a thrilling, five-hour, marathon match that came down to the final courts, 5-4. 

The Lady Warriors came off doubles play down 2-1 as Alejandra Vargas(Bogota, Colombia) and Natalia Beltran (Bogota, Colombia) fell at No. 1 doubles in a tight tie-breaker match. Sarah Cline (Brandon) and Anna Moore(Decator) grabbed a big 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles, while Laila Sisson(Collinsville) and Madison Autry (Kosciusko) lost at No. 3, 8-4. 

To win the match the Lady Warriors needed to take four out of six singles courts. Beltran lost to Itzel Lara Gonzalez at No. 1, 6-4, 6-4, while Vargas won a back-and-forth affair, 6-7, 6-1, 10-8 in a tiebreaker over Elizabeth Wooten at No. 2. Cline picked up a dominating win at No. 3 singles, 6-1, 6-3, while Moore fell in a close one, 7-5, 6-4 at No. 4. Courtney Gill (Carthage) played No. 6 singles and earned a point for the Lady Warriors with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

The last singles court in play was No. 5 Madison Gregg (Maben), with the season on the line. The freshman went toe-to-toe with Hinds' Myesha Nealon before taking the match and sealing the 5-3 ECCC victory with a 10-8 tiebreaker win after splitting sets, 4-6, 6-4. 

"We played a great match, it was one for the ages," said ECCC head coach Jay Pacelli. "We were just resilient and tenacious all day and never let up until Madison closed it out with that last match."

The win pitted the Lady Warriors against the No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Warriors found themselves down 2-1 after doubles play against MGCCC with Cline and Moore getting the only win at No. 2. In singles play, Vargas grabbed a nice, 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles and Cline earned another victory, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 3, but that was all for the Lady Warriors as Gulf Coast picked up wins at No. 1, No. 4, and No. 6 to advance to the championship. 

"Our women put a lot into this match with MGCCC in a long, hard-fought battle, especially in singles," said Pacelli. Vargas and Cline came up with big singles wins, but it just wasn't enough."

The Lady Warriors got to face No. 4 Co-Lin in a battle for third place and for a bid to the NJCAA national tournament as three teams from Region XXIII get to make the trip to nationals. The Lady Wolves of Co-Lin took the three doubles matches to take a commanding lead early, before snagging wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles to get the 5-0 victory over ECCC.

At the tournament's conclusion, ECCC's Sarah Cline was named All-MACCC for her stellar play throughout the season as voted on by the coaches. The Lady Warriors will now wait to see if they can receive an at-large bid to the national tournament.

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