Gloucester CC Wins Region 19 Tennis Title

The Gloucester County College Men's Tennis Team won four out of five singles matches today to clinch the NJCAA Region 19 Tennis Championship. This is the fifth Region 19 title for the Roadrunners in the past six years under Head Coach Brian Rowan. The Roadrunners defeated runner up Bergen CC in three out of four head to head matches today which helped propel them to the win. The team will now practice throughout the week and travel to Plano, TX on May 10th to begin play at the NJCAA National Championship Tournament.

In today's championship singles matches, Roadrunner #1 Mike Perrone (Lenape HS) defeated defending Region 19 Champion and top seeded MacClane Smoke from Brookdale CC 6-2, 6-3. At #2 singles, Nick Louis (Woodbury HS) defeated Bergen CC's David Selt 6-0, 6-4. #5 singles Peter Siv (Collingswood HS) defeated Bergen CC's Abdel Sardena 6-0, 6-4. #6 singles Derek Gillespie (Rancocas Valley HS) defeated Bergen CC's Kevin Pareja 6-4, 6-1. In the other Roadrunner singles final, #4 Matt Perrone fell 6-4, 6-0 to Bergen CC Ezio Cecere.

On Saturday, the Roadrunners won two of the three doubles championships as well. Perrone and Louis defeated Smoke and Connor Ritchey from Brookdale CC 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at #1 doubles and Gillespie teamed with Jon Robbins (Woodstown HS) for a 6-0, 6-7 (1), 6-4 win over Ocean CC's Kyle Packen and Avery Fordyce at #3 doubles.

"Our top doubles really set the tone for us this weekend," said Head Coach Brian Rowan. "Both Mike (Perrone) and Nick (Louis) are vastly improved players from last season and worked very hard to get where they are now. This weekend was validation of their improvement and our team fed off of their confidence."

As the team begins preparation for the National Tournament, Coach Rowan knows there is still work to be done. "We will need a total team effort to get into the top three spots at the National Tournament. Guys like Pete Siv and Tim Durham who have played well for us all year and are sophomores, will need to pull through as will our newcomers. We have come a long way in the past few weeks and I am optimistic that we can play better tennis next week."