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Tudela, Lee are December top student athletes
Carol Lee, left, and Vincent Tudela were named NMSA Student Athlete of the Month winners for the month of December during the NMSA monthly meeting last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium conference room. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Vincent Tudela and Carol Lee clinched the December Tan Siu Lin Foundation-Northern Marianas Sports Association Male and Female Student Athletes of the Month honors for their various feats earned in tennis.
Tudela, who turned 15 last Thursday, won one of the three events he had entered in last month’s 7th Tan Holdings Tennis Classic where he ruled the men’s 4.0 singles following a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Steven Goodwin.
Tudela could have won a second singles event in the boys’ U16 age group but lost to eventual champion Michael Ren in the round robin format.
He then teamed up with Goodwin in the men’s doubles but lost to the pair of Don L. Castillo and Ronie Lacbayo, 6-4, 3-6,10-6, in the finals.
Lee, on the other hand, played in the first week of the annual tournament where she ruled the U18 co-ed division.
She left a few days after her final match in the Tan Holdings tournament to join the Pacific GSDF (Grand Slam Development Fund) Touring Team.
Lee, denied a chance of going deeper in the main draw, bounced back from an opening set loss to clinch the 2015 14/U Australian Championships with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 decision over Queensland’s Megan Smith in the consolation contest.
Smith was the sixth seed in the main draw and was ranked 200th among Australian junior players.
Earlier, Lee was forced to retire in her first round match against No. 2 Madison Bishop of South Australia. She dropped the opening set, 6-4, but bounced back in the second with the similar score to force a deciding frame.
Lee was up 5-3, and serving for the match when play was stopped after she could no longer continue because of a strain on her knee.
She injured her left upper knee when she went for a return of Bishop’s shot in one of their long rallies during the match.
