Netter Lee earns back-to-back NMSA citation

Junior netter Carol Lee earned consecutive Northern Marianas Sports Association Female Student Athlete of the Month citations for July and August during last Thursday’s meeting held at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium conference room.

Swimmer Victoria Chentsova was chosen as the Female Student Athlete of the Month for her commendable performance in the XV Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. She had a couple of fourth place finishes, missing the podium by mere seconds.

Robbie Schorr, another rising junior netter, and Marianas High School freshman Jonah Pohl were also voted as the Male Student Athletes of the Month for August and September.

Last July, the 13-year-old Lee managed to reach the semifinals of the Oceania Open Junior Championships in Lautoka, Fiji. The Oceania Open is an International Tennis Federation event where Under-18 participants can boost their junior world ranking points.

She beat 1,638th- ranked Emily Thompson of Australia, 6-0, 6-3, and followed it up with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Hong Kong’s Justine Leong (ITF 1,278). Her luck, however, ran out when she dropped a 6-3, 6-2 semis match against No. 555 Claudia Ng also of Hong Kong.

Lee then teamed up with Palau’s Ayana Rengiil in the doubles event of the South Pacific Open Junior Championships where they defeated the pair of Hong Kong’s Venia Young and Japan’s Sophie Hamada, 6-0, 4-6, 10-3.

She then made history in August after becoming the only player in the history of the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships to win three age division titles successively in three years—U11 in 2013, U12 in 2014, and at the age of 13 topped the U16 division this year.

Lee also played in the semifinals of the Oceania Closed Junior Championship, an ITF high level B2 event where the best tennis players from Australia and New Zealand compete.

She earned 25 ITF junior ranking points after a quick 6-0, 6-2 decision over Australian Monique Belovukovic (ITF 566). She, however, absorbed a 7-5, 6-1 semis showdown with No. 138 Michaela Haet of Australia.

Lee now has an ITF junior world ranking of 780 and Pacific Oceania development officer Darran Wrighton placed her in the Top 20 13-year-old players in the region.

Schorr also had an amazing run in the POJC in August where he almost defeated eventual champion Clemente Mainguy of Vanuatu. He was at match point in their semis match but his opponent managed to turn things to his favor to escape with a 6-2, 6-7, 7-10 triumph.

Schorr, who placed third in the POJC U14 division, avenged his loss to Mainguy in the teams event, 6-4, 6-7, 10-7 to force a three-way tie for the No. 1 ranking in the age group with the Vanuatu netter and Tahiti’s Gillian Osmont.

He earned a spot on Pacific Oceania’s team that will see action in the Australian National Championships at Melbourne Park, the venue of the Australian Open, in December.

Pohl, 14, last September scored four goals in the two games that the CNMI U14 team played in the Asian Football Confederation Festival of Football held from Sept. 9 to 13 in Beijing, China.

His first goal was against Chinese-Taipei on Sept. 10 and had a hat trick in a 4-0 win over Guam on Sept. 12.

Team CNMI also played against Asian powerhouses China and North Korea.

Chevy Kate Alipio of Saipan Southern High School was the other Female Student Athlete of the Month nominee, while there were no nominations for the Male Athlete of the Month for July and August.