Carol sets eyes on NCAA Division 1 teams

The CNMI’s Carol Lee goes for a baseline return during the second set of her first round match against Robin Montgomery of the United States in the U.S. Open Junior Championships yesterday in New York. (Lydia Tan)

Carol Lee has completed her appearance in the U.S. Open Junior Championships yesterday, but will remain in the mainland to shop for a collegiate team.

The CNMI junior player dueled world No. 41 Robin Montgomery of the U.S. and lost in straight sets at the upper half of the singles main draw. Montgomery cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first set before laboring through a 7-5 triumph in the second.

“After this, I will be going to recruiting trips for U.S. tennis colleges Division 1,” said Lee, who will check three universities this week.

“I am visiting ASU (Arizona State), LSU (Louisiana State) and AU (American University). But I haven’t committed to any college yet,” the 17-year-old added.

Lee is on her junior year and taking online classes while training at the International Tennis Federation regional facility in Fiji and traveling to compete in Juniors ITF World Tour events.

The U.S. Open was her latest stop, making her the first CNMI player to compete in the annual event held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.

“I am honored and proud to represent the CNMI in the U.S. Open main draw. I came to NYC all alone and it’s my first time doing everything on my own, like organizing my practice with someone, booking a hotel with the help of my parents back on Saipan. My coach, Roxanne (Clarke), who is in Fiji, also helped me. This is another big opportunity for me after I joined the Australian Open Juniors,” the world No. 128 said.

“I would like to thank my parents, who have been supporting me, my coaches in Fiji, and my sponsor, Head,” Lee added.

After her recruiting trips in the U.S., Lee will return to Fiji for a two-week training, which will be her final in the regional facility, as she will turn 18 later this year and won’t be eligible to compete in junior tournaments next season.

From Fiji, the Commonwealth player, who won a gold medal (mixed doubles with Colin Sinclair), in the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa two months ago, will head to South Korea.

“I have GB1 and G2 tournaments in Korea. I will also train there for weeks,” said Lee.

First up for Lee in South Korea is the competition at the Chuncheon Songam Sports Town Tennis Courts in Songam-dong Chuncheon-si from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. The second and last one is the 2018 Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Championships in Jeju-do scheduled from Nov. 4 to 10. It will be Lee’s second time in the Seogwipo competition, as she also joined the singles event of the Grade 1 tournament last year and lost to Japan’s Saki Imamura in the first round.