The Spring Season of 2010 for the Lady REBELS is full of challenges and opportunities. The Lady REBELS come off of a very successful 2009 Fall semester. The Lady REBELS played some of the toughest competition they have ever faced, and came out winners at each event.

The Lady Rebels were invited to three major NCAA Division 1 tournaments. This past fall the Lady Rebels were invited to play in UTEP Lady Miner Invitational, The University of Louisiana at Monroe Lady Indians Invitational, and the University of Houston Lady Cougar tournament. The Rebels did play one Junior College event this fall in Laredo, the ITA/Wilson Southwest Regional.

The regional singles tournament was won by sophomore, Nadia Lee. It was her second consecutive Fall title. Ms. Lee then partnered with Freshman Dionicia Akina and won the doubles tournament. These wins qualified the players for the National Small College Championships in Mobile, AL. The duo finished second in Singles and Doubles.

This REBEL team is very diverse. It returns four sophomores off of a very successful 2009 National Championship squad. The team has added four very talented and competitive freshmen. Leadership is going to have to come from All-American sophomores Nadia Lee, and Francesca Bassoo. Francesca is the young lady who secured the National title with her victory in Flight Five at Tucson. This group of sophomores is trying to win an unprecedented two National Championships in a row.

This is the best that any Junior College athlete can do in his/her sport. An exciting group of young freshman will enhance Lee’s chances at a repeat National Championship Dionicia Akina, Manuela Gomez, Shana Landry, and Gina Stephenson will represent the freshman class.

The REBELS enter the spring semester with a pre-season ranking of number three. The highest player is Nadia Lee who enters the spring as the number three ranked player in the NJCAA. “We are going to need some of those talented, young players to step up for us this year,” says Haynes. “We were lucky last year to have everything go our way at Tucson in 2009, this year we are going to work harder than any other team, play harder than any other team, and let our cards fall on the table face up.”

The outlook for the REBELS is always positive. “This is right where I like for us to be, we are behind and we are chasing the number one spot for May 2010,” Coach Jason Haynes stated, “We will have a lot of teams chasing after that number one spot, but with our schedule we will be able to find out just how good we are in March” The schedule is very tough.

The REBELS will be traveling to play some very good teams in order to get ready for the National Championships in May. This year the Nationals will again be held in Tucson AZ. The REBELS will be hosting their own Lady Rebel Invitational in February. They also will travel to Plano, San Antonio, Laredo, Tyler, Abilene, and Temple, TX.

The REBELS have added more home matches for the Spring Season. They will host Trinity University, Tarleton State University, Prairie View A & M University, Our Lady of the Lake University, Tyler Junior College, and Laredo Community College. One of the better highlights on the schedule for the spring is the National Dual Match Championship Invitational. Ten top NJCAA teams will travel to Baytown to play three days of dual matches with a one winner crowned at the end. Teams participating include Hillsborough Community College, ABAC, Seminole St. College, Eastern Arizona CC, Temple College, Laredo College, and Collin College.

We are playing a lot of tennis in Baytown this Spring, but we will be anxiously awaiting our trip in May. We are going to Tucson to defend our National Title. That will be an exciting event. Lee College has never repeated after winning the Title. Will this year be the FIRST?