T-Bird Tennis looks to ruffle feathers at the National Championship
Wednesday May 1, 2024 - 12:00 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
T-Bird Tennis looks to make some noise at the 2024 NJCAA Tennis Championships.
The Lady T-Birds will compete in Tyler, TX from May 4-8 & the men will take their talents to Plano, TX for their quest against the best from May 12-16.
Lady T-Birds:
The women's team has had a very successful season, claiming the Region I title for the first time since 2019, head coach Feroz Rast believes the accomplishment will add a boost to the team's confidence and morale heading into competition.
"I think it's a big time boost, being the region title winners and being the best JUCO team in Arizona is going to give us that confidence we need early on," said Rast.
The Lady T-Birds led by Region I Player of the Year Mikaela Correa went 53-1 in total match play on the season. Correa has been outstanding for MCC in her freshman season but it did come with an adjustment period from her time playing high school tennis.
"There was a jump, we saw a lot of different schools, especially from out of state. There was a change in mindset and needing to lock in with our matches and not just think you're going to win, you really need to focus," said Corea.
Mesa was undefeated in doubles competition when it came to conference play which according to Rast was the team's greatest strength of the season.
"Our strongest points are our doubles and how well we moved together, Mikaela and Jackelin at the top they stuck through all year for us. They set the pace for us," said Rast.
Mesa had been ranked Top 25 in the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings for a majority of the season.
T-Bird Men:
The 2024 season was a bit unusual for the Thunderbird men as they did not take home the Region I title for the first time since 2014, falling short to Paradise Valley. Though coming in runner-up is disappointing for the team, Rast doesn't believe this will hurt their confidence going into the national championship and even believes this will serve as a motivational point for his freshman next season.
"I don't think it hurts our confidence, I think we're more confident of winning that last one against Paradise Valley going into the national tournament but it definitely hurts. It was something that we felt as a gut punch, I think as a freshman heavy group they're going to come back next year hungry," said Rast.
With his group being freshman dominated there is a chance the moment might be too big for them and the competition just too experienced. For Rast, the growth he's seen from his group in maintaining composure from the beginning of the season till now is immense, but keeping them calm will still be a point of emphasis.
"My goal is to keep them calm, from where they were in the fall to now they're handling pressure moments better but they get a bit nervous in tight point situations but I think that will come in time," said Rast.
Asad Okoye won Region Play of the Year for the men even though he had to battle through injury during the season. For Okoye, coming back physically wasn't the most difficult part of his journey back to the court.
"The mental aspect was the hardest coming back knowing you can trust the injury. I had to work back by just throwing myself in uncomfortable situations," said Okoye.
With the amount of conference teams seemingly dwindling each passing year the teams who do lace it up seem to have to find more ways to keep their athletes in tip top shape even though they might not see action as much as they'd like.
This season both the Mesa teams had to deal with victories via forfeit, which led Rast to have to tweak his lineup card in order to keep his team in game action shape.
"It has a huge impact on getting experience, my job was to find that balance. What I did was rest our top players against certain opponents and move the bottom players up to get some action," said Rast, "it made me have to think outside of the box to keep everyone energized and match ready."
Follow along on our website and social media pages for updates on how the T-Birds do in the events.
