LCC men idle for second day of rained-out tourney; snare regional awards

 

PLANO – There’s good news and bad news coming from the Laredo Community College Palominos during the second day of the National Junior College Athletic Association men’s tennis national championship for Division 1.

First the good news – Palominos Moacir Santos and Francisco Segura and head coach Jaime Donjuan walked away with top regional awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

And now for the bad news – the second day of the national tournament was postponed due to rain.

Santos, who stands as the No. 1 competitor in flight 1 singles, was honored with the presentation of the award for ITA Regional Rookie of the Year.

Also receiving accolades during the opening ceremonies for the tournament were Segura as the ITA Regional Player of the Year and Donjuan as the ITA Regional Coach of the Year.

LCC snared the awards from a pool of other tennis standouts representing Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

On Monday, the LCC men’s tennis team sat out the tournament after receiving byes for having every singles and doubles representative from LCC in the top three of their respective event.

The Palominos were scheduled to start tournament action on Tuesday but wound up staying idle due to heavy rains that forced the postponement of the second day of the tournament.

With more rain expected on Wednesday, coach Donjuan and his team have to just wait things out.

“It’s very frustrating right now because the guys want to get into the action.  But we have to remain patient and focused on what we came for, which is to win the national crown for the fourth consecutive year,” Donjuan said.