April 20, 2021
The East Central Community College Warriors entered the NJCAA Region XXIII Tournament, April 15-17, which was held on Jones College's campus in Ellisville, as the No. 5 seed over the weekend. The tournament was a team event in which the first to five wins between three doubles and six singles matches earned the victory. The Warriors were matched up with the No. 4 seed Co-Lin Wolves in the opening round while No. 1 Gulf Coast and No. 2 Jones College got byes. No. 3 Itawamba and No. 6 Meridian also faced off in the opening round.
The Warriors got a big win at No. 1 doubles as Chris Lawrance (York, Australia) and Isaac Santitto (Innisfail, Australia) cruised to an 8-3 victory. ECCC's Garrett Crimm (Mathiston) and Ian Gordon (Vicksburg) lost 8-2 at No. 2 doubles, while Chris Albert (Vicksburg) and Steed Springfield (Vicksburg) lost in a close match, 8-6, at No. 3 giving the Wolves to take a 2-1 advantage before singles play began.
In singles play, Co-Lin's Julian Toloza defeated Lawrance, 6-4, 6-1, while Julian Parada defeated Santitto, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Gordon fell at No. 4 singles to Lawson Pearson, 7-5, 6-1, for Co-Lin's fifth point which ended the match at 5-1.
"Co-Lin played great, so congrats to the team to Coach Hale," said ECCC head coach Jay Pacelli. "We will now wait to hear about us getting an at-large bid to the national tournament."
Though the tournament ended in the first round for the Warriors, ECCC's Lawrance and Santitto were honored. The pair both picked up All-MACCC recognition and as the second-best doubles team in the conference, the duo will get to travel to Plano, Texas to compete in the national tournament regardless of the results of the at-large team bid. ECCC's Chris Lawrence was also honored as the No. 1 singles player in the conference. The national tournament is scheduled for May 17-21 at Collin College.
