Wesley Cash of Chattanooga earned his 20th USTA category 1 age-group national championship Sunday in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and it held special meaning beyond that milestone and the fact it was the 10th doubles title together for him and Mark Vines of Naples, Fla. As the No. 2 seeds in the Men’s 60s hard-court nationals, they won six matches and avenged last year’s lone loss – in the same tournament – with a 6-2, 6-3 finals win over top-seeded Californians Doug Ditmer and Randy Berg. Cash and Vines broke their serve five times. “That takes away a thorn in my side from last year,” Cash said Monday. “We changed our game against them, and it worked.”
» Covenant College senior Annie DeLuca was selected the USA South women’s tennis player of the week for matches of April 2-8. She moved up to No. 1 singles and went 2-0 – including a 6-0, 6-0 win – and also was 2-0 at No. 1 doubles with Esther Eddy. DeLuca is 13-4 in singles. The No. 3 seed from the USAS West in the conference women’s tournament, Covenant (9-8, 4-2) faces East No. 2 North Carolina Wesleyan at 10 a.m. Friday at LaGrange, Ga. Covenant’s men are seeded first in the West and have a bye into Saturday’s semifinals.
Golf
» Senior Cristina Perez made the first competition hole-in-one in University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s golf history Monday at the Brickyard Collegiate at Macon, Ga., but her team totaled 309 and is tied for seventh at 611 with one round to go. Vanderbilt leads at 579. Perez aced the 115-yard fifth hole with a 9-iron and is at 152, two shots behind 19th-place teammate Monica San Juan, with Megan Woods at 153, Maddy McDanel at 157 and Holly Morgan at 158.
» The UTC men are tied for sixth with Mercer at 588 (301-287) after Monday’s 36 holes in the 14-team Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate at Richland Country Club in Nashville. Rice leads at 571. The Mocs’ Lake Johnson shot a second-round 67 and is tied for 12th at 144, while Andrew Weathers is 17th at 146 and Luke Long shares 18th at 147. Will Porter is at 151.