Guam netters competing in PIC doubles tournament

Guam players are coming to Saipan this weekend to compete in the doubles tournament of the 9th Annual PIC Tennis Championships at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts.

Leading the list of Guam netters challenging Saipan bets is Guam Tennis Academy and former Davis Cupper Lency Tenai, who will be playing in the men’s open doubles.

Tenai, who is also Guam’s national tennis coach, will be teaming up with Torgun Smith. The Guam duo will face the tandem of Nicholas Son and Jeff Race in the semifinals on Saturday.

Two more Guam players are entered in the men’s open doubles in Bill Camacho and Ben Dunn, who will meet Saipan’s Donn Dunlop and Nicky Nichols in the quarterfinals Saturday morning.

The winner of the Camacho-Dunn and Dunlop-Nicholls tiff will square off with the tandem of Kirk Schuler and Peter Loyola Saturday afternoon for the other finals ticket.

Besides the men’s open doubles, eight other divisions will hold doubles competitions.

The men’s 4.0 division will have eight pairs, while seven duos are entered in the men’s 3.0.

The women’s open has three pairs, the mixed 4.0 has six tandems, and the mixed open has four teams.

There will also be competitions in three divisions in the juniors doubles.

In the boys’ 14-and-under, participants are the pairs of Dylan Ackerman-Quintin Ramsey, John Cano-Lucas Nutting, Kennedy Izuka-Chris Park, Rafael Jones/Andrew Johnson, and Nathan Nutting-Chris Cajigan.

Miller, who won last week against Rafael Jones in the singles finals in the boys’ 14-and-under division, will also play in the doubles tournament, but has yet to name his partner.

The pairs of Rafael Jones-Johnson and Nathan Nutting-Cajigan drew byes in the first round.

Only two teams will play in the girls’ 14-and-under with the duos of Amy Arenovski-Neghar Rastguiy and Tammy Ackerman-Gabrielle Race battling for the title on Sunday.

The boys’ 10-and-under will have four pairs with Clayton Izuka-Alex Park facing the duo of Michael Jones and Kui Lee. The other pairing will have Colin Ramsey-Carl Dela Cruz dueling Moris Villanueva and partner.

Meanwhile, an awards banquet will be held on Sunday after the doubles matches with PIC also recognizing winners in last week’s singles competition.

Ji Hoon Heo is included on the list after winning the men’s open singles against Schuler. Joining Heo in the elite group are Dong Min Lee, Denis Karyakin, Thea Minor, Miller, Carl Dela Cruz, Melody Johnson, Tammy Ackerman, and Eun Kyong Lee.