Sophomore Fathya Berjane, an All-American national champion last year, finished second in No. 2 singles in May’s NJCAA tournament. (photo by Bill Roa)
By Wade Marbaugh
Ranked No. 2 nationally all spring, the Georgia Perimeter College women’s tennis team completed its most successful season in more than a decade, finishing third in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 tournament in May at Tyler, Texas.
Sophomore Fatyha Berjane came oh-so-close to repeating as national champion and All-American. But the flight’s No. 1 seed lost a classic three-set battle in No. 2 singles competition and settled for national runner-up. She fell to No. 2 seed Joanna-Nena Savva, a freshman from Tyler Junior College, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. It was Berjane’s only defeat in singles action all season.
“Fatyha competed very well, and we are proud of her,” says GPC head coach Mohamed “Reda” Nait Omar.
D’Asha Davis upset top-ranked players on the way to a national runner-up trophy in No. 6 singles. (photo by Bill Roa)
Freshman D’Asha Davis put up a good fight but fell in her No. 6 singles national championship match 6-1, 6-4 to another freshman, Thais Castiglioni from Florida State College-Jacksonville.
“D’Asha was unseeded and made it to the final. She really came through for the team,” Nait Omar says. Davis upset the sixth flight’s No. 4 seed and, in the semifinal, the No. 1 seed.
The third-place finish by the Jaguars was the highest national ranking for the GPC women’s tennis program since the 2000 team won the Division 2 national championship under head coach Joyce Garrett.
Every Jaguar won her first-round singles and doubles matches. The team included, in addition to Berjane and Davis, No. 1 singles Niriantsa Rasolomalala (the only other sophomore), No. 3 Drew Anderson, No. 4 Corina Anghelescu and No. 5 Eduarda Marins.
The No. 2 doubles team, Berjane and Anderson, advanced to the semifinals where they lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to Dayana Agasieva and Diana Perez of the eventual team champion, ASA College (N.Y.).
In April the Jaguars captured their second consecutive Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association championship. They won every match played in the conference tournament. That’s impressive when you’re competing with perennial tennis power Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
Niriantsa Rasolomalala was named the GCAA Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. (photo by Bill Roa)
Rasolomalala was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. And for the second consecutive year, Nait Omar was named GCAA Coach of the Year.
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