Gibson advances to NCAA Division III tennis finals

Cary Gibson, an Augusta Prep graduate and a junior at Williams (Mass.) College, lost in the women's singles finals at the NCAA Division III tennis tournament in May at Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) University. Gibson fell to Siobahn Finicane, of Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. She finished the season with a 23-8 record.

Playing No. 1, Gibson led Williams to the national team title with a 5-4 victory over Washington & Lee (Va.).

Mullor honored: Augusta State University tennis player Sergi Mullor has been selected as an ITA Division II All-American, the first male from the school to achieve the honor.

Mullor, from Barcelona, Spain, finished the year ranked No. 11 in the nation. He was 19-4 in singles and 18-7 in doubles.

Walters, Motes stand out: Augusta's Jordan Walters and Chris Motes competed on the Furman (S.C.) University men's tennis team that advanced to the NCAA Division I Regionals, where it lost to the University of Tennessee 4-0.

Walter, a sophomore and Lakeside High School graduate, was named to the first team all-conference in doubles. He finished 10-1 in doubles and was 14-11 playing No. 5 singles.

Motes, a sophomore transfer from the University of Georgia and an Augusta Christian graduate, finished the season with a 12-10 record at No. 4 singles. He was 15-6 in doubles.

Walters and Motes were named to the second team all-conference in singles.

Rauscher headed to Virginia Tech: Courtney Rauscher, a homeschooled student from Martinez, has accepted a tennis scholarship from Virginia Tech University. Rauscher also made visits to Illinois, Colorado and North Carolina State. She was ranked in the top 20 in the nation in the Girls 14s. She missed action with abdominal and wrist injuries as an older junior, but she was ranked in the top 100 in Girls 18s.

Jones receives awards: Craig Jones, co-owner and director of tennis at Petersburg Racquet Club, has recently collected an armload of tennis awards. He received the USTA/USPTA Community Award, the USTA Georgia Pro of the Year, the USTA Southern Pro of the Year, Georgia Pro Tennis Association's Director of the Year for a Large Facility and Racquet Sports Industry's Junior Development Champion for contributions to Quick Start, the tennis program for children age 10 and under.

Satellite winners: The champions at the Newman Tennis Center Junior Satellite July 11-13 were: Stefan Haerle, Boys 10s; Onyemachi Provost, Boys 12s; James O'Quinn, Boys 14s; Garrett Craig, Boys 16s; Casey Webb, Boys 18s; Rachel Harden, Girls 10s; Prim Fisher, Girls 12s; Rebecca Smith, Girls 14s; Brenna Carlile, Girls 16s.