By JOE BUIE, Staff Writer, Tyler Morning Telegraph

Four-time defending national tennis champion Laredo Community College is again the favorite this week in Plano. But it won't be a huge surprise if second-ranked Tyler Junior College pulls the upset.

"We're very good, too," said TJC head coach John Peterson, who was announced as Coach of the Year for NJCAA Division I tennis at Sunday's banquet. "What we have to do is have somebody just step up and play their best tennis instead of having it all play out according to a draw.

"I don't know which one of our guys it will be. We just have to get some wins. Another thing is to avoid that bad (early) loss."

The NJCAA Men's Tennis National Championships begin today at Collin County Community College. The draws were announced Sunday night and the Apaches are seeded in all nine flights. That means TJC will not start playing until 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The Apaches' singles lineup in flights 1-6 is Roman Petrunin (No. 6 seed), Pier Pieracciani (No. 2), Dominic McLuskey (No.2), J.J. Haley (No. 3), freshman Nathan Robinson (No. 2) and Mwalimu Phiri (No. 1).

The TJC doubles teams are Petrunin-McLuskey (No. 4) in Flight 1, Haley-Robinson (No. 3) in Flight 2 and Phiri-Paulo Roessle (No. 1) in Flight 3.

"Laredo is a huge favorite," said Peterson, adding that Laredo is especially strong in the first three singles flights and at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles.

The rivals played each other for the Region XIV title April 17 in Laredo, and the Apaches lost the dual match 6-3. Taking wins that day for TJC were Robinson and Phiri in singles, and Phiri-Roessle in doubles. The Apaches lost the Flight 4 match in three sets.

With no dual match format at nationals, the Apaches know they have more than just Laredo to worry about. Laredo and TJC are 1-2 in the national rankings, followed by No. 3 Abraham Baldwin (Ga.), No. 4 Seminole State (Okla.) and No. 5 Johnson County (Kan.).

"There are a lot more good players in the draws," Peterson said. "Each year it's getting tougher. Johnson County has a good team, Scottsdale (Ariz.) is tough at the top, Collin County is much better and (Abraham Baldwin) is strong. Almost all these teams have got a real good 1 and 2. Those draws, especially, are going to be dogfights."

Laredo clinched the national title last year with still a day to play, and finished with 47 points. TJC was second with 41, followed by Abraham Baldwin, Vincennes (Ind.), Seminole and Johnson County rounding out the top five.

Of last year's flight champions, the Apaches have only Haley back. He won Flight 2 doubles but with a different partner. McLuskey and Petrunin finished second at No. 1 doubles, but they were not paired together for much of the 2009 season until regionals.

"Doubles is usually our strength, but I tried a lot of different teams playing there at No. 1, with limited success," Peterson said. "Roman wasn't even in our doubles lineup for a while. Now we put them back together. At regionals they were very strong against Laredo's No. 1 and had a chance."

Laredo returns the defending national champion at Flight 1 in Moacir Santos, who is actually ranked behind teammate and No. 1 Cledson DeCarvalho.

Petrunin is TJC's highest-ranked singles player at No. 5 while McLuskey is No. 6. Former TJC player Malcolm Harrison is ranked seventh for Johnson County.

With individual flights determining the team champion, Peterson said it makes the tournament more exciting and unpredictable.

"This format creates a different atmosphere when you have to go on draws," Peterson said. "I much prefer the old format where we played dual matches to see which team is best."

Note: TJC women's player Iris Rendon won the regional Arthur Ashe Award last week before the national tournament in Tucson, Ariz.

Link to Original Article:  http://tylerpaper.com/article/20090511/SPORTS06/905110313