2009 FCCAA State Champions

Hillsborough Community College Team Page

 # 2 ranked Hillsborough Community College hosted the FCCAA State Tournament this past weekend April 17-18  with one thing on their mind, "take care of business."  Hillsborough is the NJCAA defending National Championship and looks to repeat this year.  The State Tournament was their first step.

In what many thought would be a highly contested show down between Hillsborough and new rival Florida Community College - Jacksonville, the Lady Hawks of Hillsborough came out strong winning all nine matches their first day of competition to put themselves in position to sweep the tournament and overtake Jacksonville who had beaten the Hawks earlier in the year 6-3.  Three wins on the first day were against Jacksonville.

In the final day, Hillsborough won 5 out of 6 singles finals to lock up their third straight FCCAA State Championship and a berth into the National Tournament hosted by the Randolph Tennis Center in Tucson, Arizona.  Following Hillsborough to the tournament will be Florida Community College and second year program Saint Petersburg College who squeeked out a third place finish by a half a point over Central Florida Community College.  Saint Pete College is also the destination of assistant coach Hiroko Nishikawa, former  # 1 ranked player in singles and doubles nationally for the Lady Hawks and a two-time FCCAA Player of the Year recipient in 2006 and 2007.

Head Coach Chad Berryhill said about his team's performance, "It was a great day for our program and our team really came to play today.  Jacksonville is a good team and we were able to get the best of them this weekend.  We are beginning to play our best tennis at the right time and will continue to work hard to accomplish our goal."

In the process of locking up a State Championship, Jillian O'Neill (HCC) was named the FCCAA Player of the Year and Head Coach Chad Berryhill was named FCCAA Coach of the Year.  Also five singles players and was doubles team was named to the All-State team by winning their flight at the tournament.

The Final Standings:

Hillsborough - 15 CHAMPION
Florida CC Jacksonville - 9 RUNNERS-Up
St. Pete - 4
Central Florida 3.5

State Tournament Championship Matches

# 1 Singles: Jillian O'Neill (HCC) defeats Bethania Laan (CFCC) 6-1; 6-0
# 2 Singles: Olivia Howlett (HCC) defeats Kate Mazackova (CFCC) 6-2; 6-1
# 3 Singles: Courtney Spafford (HCC) defeats Lara Hijbeek (FCCJ) 6-3; 6-3
# 4 Singles: Laure Bassi (HCC) defeats Chelsey Lynn (FCCJ) 6-3; 6-4
# 4 Singles: Jessica McAtee (FCCJ) defeats Ashley Albro (HCC) 6-4; 6-4
# 6 Singles: Brittney Bowden (HCC) defeats Arianna Lopez (FCCJ) 6-3; 6-1

# 1 Doubles: O'Neill/Howlett (HCC) defeat Laan/Mazackova (CFCC) 6-1; 6-1
# 2 Doubles: Yakovtseva/Hijbeek (FCCJ) defeat Spafford/Bowden (HCC) 6-3; 6-1
# 3 Doubles: Lopez/Lynn (FCCJ) defeat Albro/Palinkas (HCC) 6-2; 4-6; 6-1