NMI netters sweep B16 in NPRC

It was a sea of blue at the American Memorial Park tennis courts as the NMI boys swept the U16 division in the conclusion of the North Pacific Regional Championships on an unpredictably rainy and sunny Saturday.

Nason Wessel, Si Woo Lee, Henry Choi, and June Yu finished the tourney in the Top 4 spot and punched their ticket to the 2024 Pacific Oceania Junior Championship in Lautoka, Fiji this July.

When the on-and-off rain throughout the day finally gave way to the sun long enough to resume matches, Wessel faced off against Lee in the finals and bested him, 6-3, 6-1, for the No. 1 spot and handed Lee the second spot.

Wessel first took on teammate Henry Choi in the semis last Friday, and advanced to the finals after a 6-2, 6-3 win.

The third spot went to Henry Choi after Yu conceded early when he felt ill on the court in the middle of their match, 3-6, 0-3.

The boys bested netters from Guam, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Nauru in the tourney that was held from April 8 to April 13.

In the boys U16 doubles, Wessel and Lee teamed up and took home first place after they defeated Choi and Yu in the finals, 6-3, 6-3.

As for the girls U16 division, Guam’s Leila Mercado took the top qualifying spot after defeating the NMI’s Hoo Wang in the finals, 6-4, 6-0. Wang settled for the No. 2 spot, while the NMI’s Irin Chung clinched third place after defeating No. 4 Louisa Williams of the Federated States of Micronesia.

For the girls U16 doubles, the NMI’s Hannah Chae and Anna Kwon played well into the late afternoon and defeated teammates Irin Chung and Hoo Wang in three tough sets, 2-6, 7-5, 10-6.

Wessel, who recently turned 15 years old, told Saipan Tribune that the competition for him was “pretty easy.” He said he went into the tourney with no practice whatsoever and thought he was going to lose all his matches, but that “motivation kicked in and I started winning every single match,” said Wessel.

In his finals match against Lee, Wessel said he’s played against him a lot so he already knows how he plays, just like with the other NMI players.

On how he felt qualifying for Fiji, the Kagman HIgh School student said it’s a good step toward his goal of hopefully joining the 2024 Micronesian Games this June.

For Mercado from Harvest Christian Academy, she said the tournament was “very tough.” She said, “All the competitors were very motivated and alive to play the sport so I’m just really happy to be here playing against great players.”

With this being her last year as a junior player, she said she’s excited to have qualified for Fiji. “I’m definitely going to train harder because this is my last year,” she said. When there, she plans to win and “take it on without any overconfidence because the players over there last year were really good and this year, they’re probably even better.”

NMI tennis team head coach Jeff Race, for his part, said of the boys’ sweep, “We have a very good group of boys 16-and-under players. All of our players are strong.”

Overall, he said, “I think it was a good week for the NMI National Junior tennis team.”

Race added that they’ll now prepare for the upcoming competitions. “We have a lot of competitions coming up and it’s just a never-ending process these days,” he said.

He then said, “Our most sincere thanks to our wonderful tournament director, Lydia Tan, and the hardworking staff Savita Sikkel, Cody Race, Rie Nekai, Serin Chung, and the moms who helped with the lunches.”

The tourney was organized by the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association and funded by the Oceania Tennis Federation and International Tennis Federation.

Results of the girls and boys U14 single and doubles and girls and boys U12 team division will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.