By J.T. Wilcox
ASA Miami Sports Information Director
With only a roster that featured six young ladies – which have earned the moniker “The 6” – the ASA Miami women’s tennis team clinched the 2019 NJCAA Division-I National Championship Thursday afternoon in Tyler, Texas.
The Lady Silver Storm, who avenged their personal downfall of a third-place finish in 2018, essentially clinched the No. 1 spot on the fourth day of the five-day tourney – sitting atop the team rankings with the second-place or third-place teams mathematically unable to earn enough points to knock them off.
ASA Miami totally cemented the 2019 crown when ITA Rookie (Freshman) of the Year Tatiana Simova won Flight 2 Singles, Irina Lapustina won Flight 3 Singles, Michaela Krauskova won Flight 5 Singles, and Ji-Youn Lee won Flight 6 Singles.
The pair of Krauskova and Simova put some icing on the sweet victory cake when they won the Flight 1 Doubles Final 6-1, 6-4.
With the victory on the national stage, ASA Miami head tennis coach Brian Slack adds another accolade to his lengthy resume. Slack, the all-time winningest coach in ASA Miami athletics history, earned his ninth national championship Thursday. He won his first while as a member of the Vincennes University coaching staff in 2011; he then won four total (two men’s and two women’s) as the head coach at ASA College-New York from 2014 to 2015; two more (one men’s and one women’s) in his first season at the helm of ASA Miami in 2016; another men’s crown in 2017; and the women’s national title in 2019.
Slack could make it a perfect 10 next week when the ASA Miami men’s team, which will enter its national tournament as the No. 2 overall ranked squad, travels to Tucson, Arizona next week.
