ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (April 15, 2022) - Hillsborough Community College emerged from a quartet of nationally-ranked teams to win the FCSAA Women's Tennis Championships.

The Hawks entered the tournament ranked No. 2 among NJCAA teams in the most recent ITA Women's National Team Rankings but they had plenty of company in the top ten. St. Petersburg College was immediately behind Hillsborough at No. 3 followed by No. 6 State College of Florida and No. 10 Eastern Florida State College. 

Hillsborough claimed three singles championships and swept the three doubles flights to win the championships. The team standings mirrored the order of the national rankings as St. Petersburg finished as FCSAA Runners-up, followed by State College of Florida and Eastern Florida State. 

Hillsborough, St. Petersburg and State College of Florida will move on to the NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships in Tucson, Ariz., May 7-11.

St. Petersburg took the top two singles flights with #1 Naomi McKenzie and #2 Valeriia Cherfus both winning in three sets. 

McKenzie split the first two sets with Hillsborough's Arina Gamretkaia then took the decisive third set, 6-2. Cherfus, meanwhile, found herself down a set to Hillsborough's Ita Habekovic but rallied to even the match with a 6-3 win in set two then won the third set, 6-0. 

Hillsborough gained some measure of revenge with wins over St. Peterburg in Flights #3 and #4. 

In Flight #3, Viktoryia Zhandzinskaya beat Maria Garcia in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-2 while Mbali Langa knocked off Georgia Browne, 6-4 and 6-3, in Flight #4. 

State College of Florida claimed its lone title of the day in Flight #5 with No. 2 seed Sakurako Suzuki beating top-seed Esmee Andreson of Hillsborough, 6-3 and 6-4. 

Hillsborough's Camilla Mitolo didn't lose a game en route to the Flight #6 championship, beating St. Petersburg's Kaede Tada, 6-0 and 6-0.  

In doubles action, it was all Hillsborough. 

Zhandzinskaya and Langa claimed the #1 Flight with a three-set win over St. Petersburg's McKenzie and Cherfus, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. 

The Hawks locked up the FCSAA Championship with straight-set wins in Flights #2 and #3. 

At #2, Gamretkaia and Olivia Pezo defeated State College of Florida's duo of Suzuki and Lou De Freitas Bonet, and, at #3, Habekovic and Andreson beat St. Petersburg's Robyn Hancock and Lucia Garcia. 

By virtue of winning the championships, Hillsborough's Sarah Summerfield was named FCSAA Coach of the Year. 

St. Petersburg's McKenzie headlines FCSAA All-State Team

The FCSAA All-State/NJCAA All-Region 8 team is comprised of the winners of the six individual flights and three doubles flights. 

By virtue of winning Flight #1, St. Petersburg's Naomi McKenzie was also named FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Women's Tennis Player of the Year. 

FCSAA All-State/NJCAA All-Region 8 Team

• Naomi McKenzie, St. Petersburg, #1 Singles Champion
• Valeriia Cherfus, St. Petersburg, #2 Singles Champion
• Viktoryia Zhandzinskaya, Hillsborough, # 3 Singles Champion
• Mbali Langa, Hillsborough, #4 Singles Champion
• Sakurako Suzuki, State College of Florida, #5 Singles Champion
• Camilla Mitolo, Hillsborough, #6 Singles Champion
• Viktoryia Zhandzinskaya and Mbali Langa, Hillsborough, #1 Doubles Champion
• Arina Gamretkaia and Olivia Pezo, Hillsborough, #2 Doubles Champion
• Ita Habekovic and Esmee Andresen, Hillsborough, #3 Doubles Champion