A number of  Collin College Cougar women’s tennis players received exemplary honors at the NJCAA Division I National Championships.

Gina Solis

Also, freshman Gina Solis became Collin College’s first individual Women’s National Champion and Division I First-Team All-American by winning flight five. The Cougars also garnered three Second-Team All-American honors as freshman Mandy Bowling reached the finals of flight six and Jacky Lahari and Cally Woerner, both freshmen, made it all the way to the finals of flight two doubles.

Mandy Bowling

The women's team placed fifth in the tournament for the second year in a row.

Solis, seeded third in her flight, won her title by defeating the fourth seed, Kylie George of North Central Texas College, 7-6, 7-5 in a rematch of their Region V encounter two weeks before, which Solis also won. Bowling, the fifth seed in flight six, narrowly missed upsetting second-seeded Audrey Hernandez of Lee College (Baytown) 4-6, 7-5 and 6-1.

Cally Woerner and Jacky Lahari

The Cougar flight two doubles team of Lahari and Woerner faced a tough challenge in the semis on Wednesday as they faced their arch-rivals Ashley Longoria and Sureena Weir of Tyler Junior College even as Woerner struggled to recover from being very ill the night before. The Cougar duo pulled out a 6-4, 6-4 victory and managed a first set in the finals against Nadia Solomon and Brittanee George of NCTC before going down 7-6, 6-2.

Hillsborough College of Tampa, Florida won the team championship with a total of 45 points, while Tyler came in second with 44, followed by Lee College (43), Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College of Tifton, Georgia (42) and our own Collin College Cougars with 39.5 points.

Eighth-seeded Sara Flores (flight one) and fifth-seed Lahari (flight three) each reached the quarter-finals, while Cally Woerner made it all the way to the semis of flight four. In flight one doubles, unseeded Bowling and Talena Lorren garnered two precious points by winning their first round match before losing to the number three seeds and eventual winners, while Marie Liwuslili and Emily McRae won their two points the hard way by winning the consolation bracket of flight three doubles.

For complete tournament details, go here.