US Teams Get Four Sweeps as ITF Junior Team Qualifying Begins; SEC, ACC Announce Conference Awards; McNally, Osuigwe Advance to Quarterfinals at Charlotte $80K

North/Central America and Caribbean regional qualifying began today for the ITF's junior team events: the 14-and-under World Junior Tennis competition, held in the Czech Republic in August, and the Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup competition, held this year at the end of September in Lake Nona.

This weekend's event, taking place in Montreal, will decide which two teams in each category will advance to the above finals, although the US Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup teams are already certain of places in the 16-team event because they are the hosts. 

The US teams are off to a perfect start, with all four earning 3-0 victories today.

The Junior Fed Cup team of Ellie Coleman, Charlotte Owensby and Robin Montgomery defeated El Salvador, with Coleman winning at No. 2 singles, Owensby at No. 1 singles and Owensby and Montgomery taking the doubles.

The Junior Davis Cup team of Martin Damm, Alexander Bernard and Dali Blanch beat Costa Rica 3-0, with Bernard winning at No. 2 singles, Blanch at No. 1 singles and Damm and Blanch taking the doubles.

In the girls World Junior Tennis, Qavia Lopez won at No. 2 singles, Clervie Ngounoue took No. 1 singles and Tsehay Driscoll and Lopez claimed the doubles in a 3-0 win over Guatemala.

The boys World Junior Tennis team also beat Guatemala 3-0, with Cooper Williams getting the win at No. 2 singles, Kyle Kang at No. 1 singles and Kang and Williams teaming for the doubles win.

Tomorrow all four teams will face teams from Mexico in the second of the three round robin matches. See the ITF tournament website for updates.

The SEC and ACC have announced their conference tennis awards, with the all-conference teams, all-freshmen teams, and individual awards. Below are the three major awards, with links to the full array of awards in the headings.

SEC Men:
Player of the Year: Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Freshman of the Year: Sam Riffice, Florida
Coach of the Year: Bryan Shelton, Florida

SEC Women:
Player of the Year: Ingrid Martins, South Carolina
Freshman of the Year: Meg Kowalski, Georgia
Coach of the Year: Kevin Epley, South Carolina

ACC Men:
Player of the Year: Carl Soderlund, Virginia
Freshman of the Year: Brandon Nakashima, Virginia
Coach of the Year: Andres Pedroso, Virginia

ACC Women:
ACC Women: Player of the Year: Estela Perez Somarriba, Miami
Freshman of the Year: Cameron Morra, North Carolina
Coach of the Year: Simon Earnshaw, North Carolina State

Seventeen-year-olds Caty McNally and Whitney Osuigwe have advanced to the quarterfinals of the $80,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournament in Charlottesville Virginia. 

McNally, who is unseeded, earned her second consecutive three-set victory today, beating unseeded Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, her second win over Karatancheva in the past two months. McNally will face 18-year-old Kaja Juvan of Slovenia, the No. 4 seed, next.

Osuigwe, the No. 8 seed, beat Zoe Hives of Australia 6-2, 7-5 and will take on top seed Taylor Townsend in Friday's quarterfinal. Last year Townsend and Osuigwe met in the quarterfinals of the Charleston $80K, with Townsend winning 7-5 in the third.

Other Americans to advance to the quarterfinals are No. 2 seed Madison Brengle and unseeded Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame).