NMI women’s tennis team finishes 3rd at Billie Jean King Cup

The NMI women’s tennis team made up of Maria Isabel Heras, Hyejin Elliott, and Vivian Chung, wrapped up their Billie Jean King Cup Group III Asia/Oceania - Zone A campaign with a 2-1 win over Turkmenistan on Oct. 24 in Phan Thiet, Vietnam, securing third place in the tournament.

Elliott opened up their final game of the tourney by winning her singles match, 6-4, 7-5, while Heras lost the second singles match, 4-6, 2-6, sending the tie to a doubles matchup.

It was the first time in the tourney that Elliott and Heras partnered up, and after narrowly losing the opening set 6-7, (3-7) they made a comeback to secure the second, 6-3. The pair then won the deciding super tiebreak, 10-6, to clinch the tie. The victory gave the team a third-place finish, though host Vietnam claimed the tournament’s lone promotion spot to Group II.

NMI also picked up 2-1 wins over Brunei and Saudi Arabia during round-robin play. The team lost 0-3 to Nepal on Oct. 23 though, before closing out the tournament with the win over Turkmenistan.

In their first match of the tourney against Brunei, Elliott defeated Eunice Ying Ci Lo, 6-0, 6-3. In the second match, Heras defeated Danielle Lim 6-0, 6-1.The third match saw Chung and Heras face Lo and Megan Lee Yit May, with Chung and Heras losing, 3-6, 3-6.

Against Saudi Arabia, Elliott first defeated Maissane Ben Hassine 6-3, 6-4. In the second match, Heras overpowered Yara Alhaqbani, 6-2, 6-0, then Chung and Elliott dropped their match against Alhaqbani and Hassine, 2-6, 1-6.

Then, against a tough Nepal team, Shrijana Thapa beat Elliott, 4-6, 3-6, Swastika Bista defeated Heras, 6-3, 6-2, and Prajna Manandhar and Prakriti Shrestha took down Chung and Elliott, 6-4, 6-0.

NMI head coach and team captain Jeff Race said he was impressed by the level of play throughout the tournament by Elliott and Heras, who flew in from the states to represent the NMI.

“I was really impressed with their level of play,” Race said. “Isabel has stayed fit since winning all the gold medals in the Micronesia Games in 2024 and really shocks opponents with the power and ferocity of her forehand.” Heras graduated from college three years ago and is working in Denver, but is also doing some coaching at two different facilities.

Elliott, meanwhile, is a senior at Adrian College in Michigan. “She has been playing in the #1 spot on the team since she arrived there. She often practices with the men’s team and has the opportunity to play the best player from every other college, which has really helped her improve tremendously in the last three years,” said Race.

Chung, the youngest of the team, flew with Race from Saipan and celebrated her 15th birthday on their last day of the tourney. Race said, “This was a great opportunity for her to see what the level is here and I believe she is inspired by the experience to work hard to reach it. That may give her the chance to play college tennis herself. Over the course of the three matches that she played she made significant tactical improvements. These were the objectives in including her as a team member. Success!”

As to what’s the next big competition for NMI tennis, Race said it’s the 2027 Tahiti Pacific Games. “I believe that both Colin Sinclair and Carol Lee have expressed their commitment to play, so at least on paper we are looking at having a very strong team.”