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Volume 38 Issue 11
March 27, 2001

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Women’s tennis repeats as conference champs

BY CHRIS BOWMAN
MESA LEGEND
Submitted March 27, 2001

Women’s tennis is back in swing again as the T-Birds have captured their second straight conference title while tying Glendale Community College for first place with a 6-1 record.

Kim Patterson/MESA LEGEND

Top-seeded player, Tiffany Bingham, prepares for action during a doubles match at MCC. Bingham, along with Stephanie Polito, has gone undefeated in conference doubles matches this year.

MCC will begin the region tournament April 12 in hopes of earning a berth to the national tournament held in Tucson May 6.

The T-Birds need to finish in the top two at region as a team, or finish first individually in singles or doubles to qualify for the national tournament.

MCC Coach Penny Powell took the T-Birds to the national tourney last year and finished seventh.

Powell’s current team lost most of last year’s key contributors and had to rely heavily on freshmen.

"It’s hard to know how the freshmen are going to step up to the next level," Powell said. "They really worked hard though, and they just don’t like to lose."

Tiffany Bingham is one of the freshmen that solidified the team.

Bingham and sophomore Stephanie Polito have paired up in doubles this year and went undefeated in conference matches.

Being the top seed, Bingham has had to play all of MCC’s opponents’ number-one players in singles matches.

She hasn’t adjusted in singles well, losing all six ACCAC matches. Her confidence has yet to be crushed.

"Singles has been kind of shaky," Bingham said. "I have just started pulling it together.

"It has been a big jump in skill for me but it is improving. I’m finally starting to play with a little more patience."

Elena Zlatera has provided strong sophomore leadership for Powell’s squad as the number-two seeded player.

She has a 4-2 record in singles play, and is undefeated in doubles when paired with freshman Laura Goutcher.

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