Thea makes national rankings

The CNMI’s Thea Minor barged into the national rankings of National Junior College Athletics Association.

Thea Minor, right, poses with her New Mexico Military Institute teammates and coach Dan O’Connell during one of the Bronco’s tournaments in Division 1 of the National Junior College Athletics Association. (Contributed Photo)

Minor, who debuted this year with New Mexico Military Institute and plays in NJCAA’s Division 1, and teammate Lorraine Banimataku of Vanuatu are ranked No. 8 in doubles. In singles, the Commonwealth player is at No. 43. ASA College and Chile’s Macarena Olivarez led the Top 50 players in the singles rankings and is also on top of the list in the doubles with partner Megano Bianco of Switzerland.

“Getting a national ranking for both singles and doubles in my freshman year is a great achievement. I gained a lot of experience playing in all the tournaments and I would say the Nationals was the most difficult one because as you advanced to the next round it gets tougher and tougher. I would also say the Nationals was the most memorable tournament for me because as a four-player team, we still accomplished a lot of things,” said Minor, who is joined in the squad by the Federated States of Micronesia’s Amanda Hawkins and Papua New Guinea’s Lorish Puluspene and coached by former Pacific Oceania Junior ITF development officer Dan O’Connell.

In the NCJAA Division 1 National Championships held in Tucson, Arizona early this month, the 20-year-old Minor marched into the quarterfinals of both the singles and doubles events. In the singles contest, the Saipan Southern High School graduate crushed Amanda Bertoldi of Snead State, 6-0, 6-0, in the opening round. In the next round, the unranked Minor stunned No. 8 seed Daniella Sanz of Barton Community College, 6-1, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals where the former CNMI top girls juniors player eventually bowed to top-ranked and Flight 2 champion Bianco, 0-6, 0-6.

In the doubles, Minor and Banimataku also went 2-0 to qualify into the quarterfinals before falling to their seeded foes. The Bronco duo first swept Haileigh Harper and Marina Schmidt of Harford Community College, 6-1, 6-0, and then slipped past Florida State College of Jacksonville’s Olivia Rolle and Michelle Chemally, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Incidentally, Minor and Banimataku were pitted against the No. 1 ranked and Flight 1 champion pair of Olivarez and Bianco in the quarterfinals and lost, 0-6, 0-6.

Despite faltering in her quarterfinals matches in singles and doubles, Minor believed she exceeded expectations in her rookie season with the Bronco.

“I wasn’t expecting to reach the quarterfinals of the Nationals in my first year so I am proud and happy how I ended my freshmen season. I plan to train harder for the upcoming season so we can come back to the Nationals and hopefully with a full team,” said Minor, who is in town for the summer vacation.

Minor’s team is among the few schools in NJCAA Division 1 with a depleted roster. Usually, squads have seven to nine players available for competition.