Division 1 of MCCC Women’s Tennis has recorded seven wins and three losses this season. The team started with a 7-2 victory against Harford CC, Maryland. Since then they have never suffered any losses locally. The only losses they suffered were when they went to South Carolina to compete against three of the top ten teams in the country, suffering three losses from three games.

Makenna Swasey, a freshman biology major and number five on the roster, said the South Carolina games were not an easy defeat.

Swasey says, “We definitely fought our hardest and all those scores may not show it, but it certainly showed when we played.”

Last year the team was short two players, which meant they automatically lost points. This year they have a full roster of six players, which is enough for a lineup. Because 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 because we are a community college, he likes to look at the community first when recruiting players.

For example, MCCC has recruited the number one on the team, first-year Business Administration student Leticia Kitio, who is concentrating in sports management.

Kitio is the first to ever win a Mercer County tournament in Lawrence High School history and says she has improved a lot since joining Mercer’s team last semester.

Kitio says, “In South Carolina we were on the field for almost three to four hours. Before, I couldn’t do this, especially in the scorching sun.”

Coach Vecchiolla has been in charge of MCCC women’s tennis since 1997.

Vecchiolla says, “(Kitio is) probably one of the best players we’ve had in the history of the college.”

Kitio is undefeated all season, excluding the games in South Carolina. “It wasn’t what I expected, but I’m glad I played. We got a taste of what we’re going to get in Texas, and I’m 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 fly to Texas on May 2 and stay there until May 8.

The team’s captain, Valeria Vargas, a business student in her third semester, says winning national titles is their main goal right now. She added that she expects her teammates to continue to work hard and improve over the past three weeks.

Vargas says, “We’re playing one of the best teams in the country.”

Barb Pleva, a former player and assistant coach for more than two decades in women’s tennis, said she expects them to do well at the national championships.

Pleva says: “This team is definitely the strongest team we have 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 right, 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 the team is the people who lift you up when you let yourself down.”