Justine Leong

Justine Leong Earns UTR/ITA Division III National Player of the Month

CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis player Justine Leong was named the UTR/ITA Division III National Player of the Month for October, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced today.

Leong earned the honor after a dominant performance at both the ITA West Regionals and the ITA Cup in October. She was 8-0 in singles and 9-0 in doubles against four-year schools in the month of October (suffering only a doubles loss to the national junior college champions at the ITA Cup). 

At the ITA West Regionals in Claremont, Leong and Catherine Allen earned the doubles championship, while Leong defeated Allen for the singles title in an all-Athena final. Her aggregate results in singles at the ITA Regionals were 54-12, with no set closer than 6-3, while her aggregate doubles score was 44-13, with eight of the game losses coming in the finals to teammates Anna Kern and Crystal Juan (6-4, 6-4). 

At the ITA Cup, Leong continued her strong singles play, winning in straight sets in all three matches, including a 6-0, 6-3 win in the Round of 16, a 6-1, 6-2 win in the quarterfinals, and a 6-4, 6-4 win in the semifinals. She was again scheduled to face Allen in the championship match at the nationals, but Allen withdrew with an injury to begin rehabbing for the spring season. In doubles, Leong and Allen earned a 6-0, 6-3 win over Wesleyan for the Division III Championship, and then advanced to the ITA Cup, where they lost in three sets to the NJCAA Champions from Tyler Community College. 

Leong will continue on in singles to compete at the ITA Fall Championships in Newport Beach, California this week, where she will compete in a 64-player field that includes some of the top players in Division I, as well as the ITA Cup champions from Division II, Division III, NAIA, and NJCAA.