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JCCC men’s tennis fourth at nationals, doubles team wins national title
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Johnson County Community College
Press Release

College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Director, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

JCCC men’s tennis fourth at nationals, doubles team wins national title

Tennis players
National Tournament Logo
OVERLAND PARK, KS -- The Johnson County Community College men’s tennis team posted its best NJCAA Division I finish in history, placing fourth in the 18-team field at the 2007 NJCAA Tennis Championships in Plano, Texas.  The Cavaliers previous best D-I finish was eighth in 2005. The team’s best finish was third in 1989 and 1992, both at the Division II level.

Individually the highlight of tournament was the play of sophomores Zach Frisch and Quinton Peterson-Paul at the number one doubles position.  The pair were ranked as the number two doubles team in the country when the season began based on their runner-up finish at the ITA Championships last fall. However, they left the championships as the nation’s top team, winning the school’s first national title at number one doubles.  Both earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors.

Frisch and Peterson-Paul defeated Manuel Carette and Saman Samii of Collin County in straight sets, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, to capture the national championship.  Possibly the most exciting match of the tournament was their semifinal victory over the Nahome Serekeberhan and Jorge Vazquez of Tyler Junior College, who had been ranked number one all season long, and defeated them at the ITA Championships.  JCCC’s duo handed he pair from Tyler their first defeat of the season, winning in three sets.  JCCC won the first set 6-3, then fell in the second 6-7 (4-7). They rebounded with an impressive 6-2 win in the final set.  Prior to that match, Frisch and Peterson-Paul registered straight set victories over Andy Hultz and Daniel Ospina of Paradise Valley (6-3, 6-4) and Jarrod Kec and Chris Reyna of Elgin (6-1, 6-2).  The pair finished the campaign with a record of 17-3, which ties the fifth-most wins at that position in school history.

Frisch and Peterson-Paul were also impressive in singles play.  Playing at the number one spot, Frisch reached the semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Gwen Corches of Laredo Community College.  Frisch posted a record of 17-4 on the season, which also tied him for fifth on the number one singles chart.   Peterson-Paul reached the quarterfinals before falling to Jose Arizpe of Laredo, who finished runner-up in the number two singles bracket.  He finished 14-6 on the season.

Also reaching the quarterfinals in singles player were Steffen Solomon in the number three bracket, Dylan Gatton at number four, Keith Pipkin at number five and Zach Alholm at the sixth position.  Solomon’s loss came to eventual national champion Alex Weiland of Scottsdale Community College in three sets, 7-6(9-7), 3-6, 5-7.

JCCC’s number two and three doubles teams also reached the quarterfinals.  The number two team was Gatton and Solomon, and the number three team was Alholm and Andrew Shipp.

For schedules, rosters, and other team information, go to JCCC's Athletics Web site:
http://www.jccc.edu/athletics