Dela Cruz, Ackerman make finals

Carl Dela Cruz and Tammy Ackerman clinched finals berths in the 2011 Oceania Plate played in Lautoka, Fiji.

Dela Cruz entered the singles championship game in the junior boys division, while Ackerman booked a finals slot in the junior girls category. Unfortunately, the two CNMI players dropped their respective title games and settled for runner-up finishes.

Ackerman, who gunned for her second singles crown after ruling the U12 singles division of the 2011 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships, was pitted against Fiji’s Mulan Kamoe in the finals and lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.

Before the finals defeat, Ackerman survived teammate Negahr Rastguiy in the quarterfinals, 6-0, 5-7, 7-5. She then had another three-set win over Vinda Teally of Samoa in the semis, 6-0, 5-7, 7-5, to march into the finals.

Kamoe came from an easier quarterfinal win, as she swept Palau’s Ayana Rengiil 6-3, 6-4. The Fiji netter than foiled an all-CNMI title showdown when she defeated Melody Johnson in the other semis tiff, 7-6, 1-6, 6-1.

Johnson settled for fourth place in the 15-player field, while Rastguiy finished fifth.

In the junior boys division, Dela Cruz completed the elimination round with a 3-0 record and extended his streak to four after prevailing over teammate Moris Villanueva in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-2.

Dela Cruz’s next foe was Fiji’s Devrath Narayan and again the CNMI bet won, 6-3, 7-6 (2), to barge into the finals against Tahiti’s Michael Emery. Dela Cruz dropped the opening set by three, 3-6, but then gave Emery a tougher fight in the second set before bowing, 6-7 (4).

Villanueva joined dela Cruz in the Top 5 of the 16-player field, as the former won his consolation match over the Cook Island’s Jake Bergman, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

In the senior girls, Mikayla Lopez made it all the way to the semifinals and eventually finished fourth in the 10-player group. She earned a 2-2 card in the pool play and faced Papua New Guinea’s Lorish Puluspene in the semis. Lopez lost, 0-6, 4-6, and was forced to play in the consolation game. She also dropped the battle for third place against American Samoa’s Leilani Duchnak, 4-6, 4-6.

Theecel Minor also played in the senior girls and was ranked seventh, losing her final game against Palau’s Abigail Gbewonyo, 3-6, 1-6.

Jake Lee entered the seniors boys and finished sixth out of the 12 players in the singles event. He had a 3-2 record in Pool A for a tie for second place with two others. However, he lost in the tiebreak, missing a chance to advance to the semifinals. Instead, he fought in the consolation draw and defeated the Federated States of Micronesia’s T.J. Rush, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, to save fifth place.

The Oceania Plate was completed last Friday and the CNMI junior tennis players and coach Jeff Race returned to Saipan yesterday.