Jones College to host 2021 Region 23 Tennis Championships

ELLISVILL (via JCBobcats.com) – Jones College will be the site of the 2021 NJCAA Region 23 Tennis Championships April 15-17.
 
It will be the first time for Jones to host a postseason tennis tournament since 2001. That year, the Bobcats hosted the MACJC (now MACCC) Championships.
 
Fifth-year Bobcat tennis coach Brooks Buffington is happy for the tournament to be back on the JC campus.
 
"Jones has not hosted the tournament since before I played when I was here from 2002 to 2004, so this is a big deal for us to do so again," he said. "I'm looking forward to the atmosphere that this format should bring and to what my teams are going to be able to achieve during the tournament."
 
The reason Jones is hosting the tournament is because the MACCC women's champion was named as the host site before the season. The 12th-ranked Jones College women's team won the MACCC championship, posting an 18-0 mark this year. 
 
The Jones women's team has won 47 consecutive matches dating back to 2019.
 
"This year, the women's conference champion hosts the tournament," Buffington said. "My women are very strong. They took care of business in every conference match to go undefeated on the year for the second year in a row. In doing so, they claimed the conference championship and the host spot for regionals."
 
A big change for this year's event is the fact that it will be based on team performance rather than individual points. In other words, it will be just like the NCAA Tournament.
 
That was supposed to happen in 2020, but the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
 
Buffington is thrilled with the change.
 
"We are extremely excited to be hosting the regional tournament this year," he said. "There are a lot of firsts with this tournament. It's the first time the regional tournament will be played in a dual match format. This is the first year that the conference championship and the regional championship will not be determined by the same tournament."
 
The No. 14 Bobcat men finished second in the conference standings and will also be in the tournament. The Bobcats are 16-3 on the year.
 
The top six MACCC men and women's teams will be competing in the tournament.
 
Both of Jones' teams receive first round byes.
 
Weather permitting, the tournament begins April 15 with first round matches involving the No.'s 3, 4, 5 and 6 seeds. Semifinals will be played on April 16 with championship and consolation round matches slated for April 17.
 
The top three women's teams will qualify for the NJCAA Division I National Tournament May 1-5 in Mesa, Ariz. The top three men's teams will head to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament May 17-21 in Plano, Texas.

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