Lopez leads NMSA May awardees

Mikayla Lopez was named the NMSA/TSL Foundation Female Student Athlete of the Month in May to lead three others that earned the Northern Marianas Sports Association’s monthly honors.

The CNMI’s Mikayla Lopez, seen here returning a shot to her and Ayana Rengiil’s doubles foes in last month’s 2015 IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships at the Pacific Islands Club, was named NMSA/TSL Foundation Student Athlete of the Month for May. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Soccer’s Sean Perez was the Male Student Athlete of the Month, while volleyball player Midcat “MC” Tipingeni and bowler Diana Camacho clinched the Male and Female Athletes of the Month, respectively.

Lopez had a breakthrough performance in last month’s IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships, an International Tennis Federation junior ranking event, where she became the first CNMI netter to go deeper in the tournament.

The ITF Junior event featured 80 of the best players from 14 countries vying for world ranking points.

Netters from Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Australia, Philippines, China, Indonesia, Palau, and the United States joined host CNMI in the weeklong tournament.

The Marianas High School junior reached the semifinals in the girls singles and was a quarterfinalist together with Palau’s Ayana Rengiil in the girls doubles.

Lopez, an incoming senior who already has an offer for a college scholarship in the U.S., opened her singles bid with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Hong Kong’s Sabrina Mary Woll then had to grind out a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over tough Japanese foe Makoto Ohara.

She went up against No. 2 seed Maria Dominique Ong of the Philippines in the quarterfinals and she again pulled off an upset, 6-1, 6-0, to earn a semifinals date against third-ranked Ayana Shimizu of Japan.

Lopez was clearly outmatched by the Japanese bet as she went down, 1-6, 0-6. She also reached the quarterfinals in the girls doubles when she teamed up with Rengiil in scoring a 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 super tiebreak against Woll and Yuen Yung Li.

Perez earned the NMSA/TSL Foundation Male Student Athlete of the Month after his impressive performance in the NMIFA 2015 Spring Youth League where he clinched the Golden Boot.

Tipengeni, meanwhile, was the Male Athlete of the Month after leading his team to second place heading into the playoff round of the ongoing 6v6 Indoor Volleyball League, while Camacho got the nod following her triumphant run in the 33rd CNMI May Masters Bowling Tournament.

Friendly Joy Pena (athletics), Hopwood Junior High School’s Angelica Sally (soccer), and Knohlynn Gechig (volleyball) were the other NMSA/TSL Foundation Female Student Athlete of the Month nominees, while Donavin Ada (athletics) and Andrew Johnson (volleyball) were nominated for the Male Student Athlete. Robert Talavera (bowling) and Toni Yamada (volleyball) were also nominees for the Male and Female Athlete of the Month, respectively.