Netters dominate April awards

 CNMI tennis players won three-fourths of the Athlete of the Month honors up for grabs in April.

During Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association’s monthly meeting last Thursday, local sports association officials voted tennis’ Todd Montgomery, Thea Minor, and Christopher Cajigan and bowling’s Lala Taitano as April’s best athletes.

Montgomery got the nod for 2012 April Male Athlete of the Month after winning the men’s singles open and men’s doubles open of the 12th Annual PIC Tennis Championships.

Montgomery won the men’s singles championship after surviving ex-Micronesian Games teammate Bobby Cruz in the finals, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

The former University of Kansas NCAA player then partnered with another Micro Games teammate, Tim Quan, to take the men’s open doubles crown.

Montgomery and Quan beat Cruz and top junior player Christian Miller in the finals, 6-3, 7-5.

Minor, for her part, won the 2012 Female Student Athlete of the Month after topping three divisions in the PIC Tennis Championships-the women’s singles open, women’s doubles open, and mixed doubles.

Minor captured her fifth straight women’s singles championship after a straight-set win over fellow junior player Mikayla Lopez, 6-4, 6-3.

She then teamed up with Cruz to upend Quan and Mikayla Lopez, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), in the mixed doubles finals.

In the women’s open doubles, the Saipan Southern High School student joined forces with former junior player Vivian Lee and the two triumphed over Guam’s Michelle Pang and Saipan’s Lydia Tan in the finals, 6-4, 6-1.

Cajigan, meanwhile, claimed the 2012 April Male Student Athlete plum after winning the boys 15-and-under and the men’s 4.0 singles crowns of the PIC netfest.

The Grace Christian Academy student swept Chang Whan Jang in the finals of the men’s 4.0, 6-3, 6-2. Scores for his U15 win were not available.

Bowling’s Taitano took the 2012 April Female Athlete of the Month award after winning the Saipan Bowling Association/Budweiser Queen of the Lanes last month.

Taitano, who only joined the second day of the tournament, rolled a four-game total of 698 pinfalls. She had her best showing in Game 2, recording 191 pinfalls and tallied 178, 176, and 153 in the three other games for an average of 174.50.

Montgomery, Minor, and Cajigan were nominated by the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association, while Taitano was Saipan Bowling Association’s bet for the monthly awards.