Hosting their respective conference tournaments, the Cerritos College men's and women's tennis teams will comprise the finals of both singles in men's and women's and in the men's doubles. The Falcons, who won the conference championships in both, will only play the women's doubles match on Saturday. The men are part of the Western State Conference East Division, while the women compete in the South Coast Conference, and will play their all-Cerritos finals during the week.
MEN'S TENNIS
On the first day, all six singles players and all three doubles teams made their way into the quarterfinals. Top-ranked singles player, Kent Hunter, drew a bye in the first round and then defeated Jonathan Munoz of Mt. San Antonio College, 6-0, 6-0. It was the same for #2-seeded Victor Castro, who defeated Jeremy Searcy of Mt. San Antonio, 6-1, 6-1 after a bye in the first round. In fact, all six singles players earned a bye in the first round before winning their lone match of the day. Freshman Alex Prokopchuk eliminated Stephen Whitman of El Camino College, 6-0, 6-0, while sophomore Biel Roca Carreras recorded a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Nalitha Liyanage of Mt. SAC. As for sophomore Kwangeun Lee, his 6-2, 6-2 win against Riku Nonaka of El Camino moved him to the quaterfinals, as did the 6-3, 6-2 win by Dario Rico-Altozano against Trey Vasquez of El Camino.
With eight players remaining, two of the matches in the quarterfinals had Falcons taking on each other. In the quarterfinals, Hunter defeated Connor Davis of El Camino, 6-0, 6-1 and then faced Roca Carreras in the semifinals and recorded a 6-0, 6-3 victory. In the finals, Hunter will take on Castro, who opened the day with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Lee and then outlasted Prokopchuk, 7-5, 6-1.
In doubles action, top-seeded Hunter and Castro won, 8-0 against Ernesto Del Rosario and Jae Jun of El Camino, with Prokopchuk and sophomore Marcos Paulo Silvestre earning an 8-1 win over Munoz and Liyanage. The team's other doubles pairing, Rico-Altozano and Lee handed Connor Davis and Whitman of El Camino an 8-4 decision.
Doubles will also be an all-Cerritos finals, as Hunter and Castro defeated Nonaka and Vasquez of El Camino, 8-1, with Rico and Lee posting a 9-7 upset of #2-seeded teammates Prokopchuk and Silvestre. Both the singles and doubles championships will be played during the week.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Just like the men's program, all six singles players and all three doubles pairings came through the first day unscathed. Top-seeded Lisa Suzuki earned a 6-0, 6-0 win against Raquel Rice of Rio Hondo College to advance to the quarterfinals, while #2-seeded Petra Such won, 6-0, 6-0 in her lone match against Roxy Valverde of Rio Hondo. Freshman Kseniia Prokopchuk didn't surrender a game in her match against Cindy Lai of Rio Hondo, with freshman Moa Lindstrom posting a 6-2, 6-0 victory against Rio Hondo's Jackie Azpeitia. Sophomore Itzi Torres advanced to the quarterfinals with her 6-2, 6-0 win against Stephanie Kingman of El Camino, with sophomore Diviana Bravo winning, 6-0, 6-0 against Jane Quach of Rio Hondo.
Two of the four quarterfinal matches pitted teammates against each other, with Suzuki and Prokopchuk winning both of their matches to reach the finals. Suzuki defeated Maddie Giese of El Camino, 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals and then Lina Ito of El Camino, 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals. Prokopchuk had to face a pair of teammates and defeated Torres and then Such, who was seeded #2.
Doubles play saw more of the same on the first day, with Suzuki and Prokopchuk shutting out Kingham and Amanda Vitanachi of El Camino, while Such and Lindstrom won, 8-1 against Valverde and Arciniega of Rio Hondo. The opponent of Suzuki and Prokopchuk in the quarterfinas, Torres and Bravo, eliminated Quach and Azpeitia, 8-0. Suzuki and Prokopchuk advanced to the finals after their 8-0 win over Torres and Bravo, while they will be facing #3-seeded Giese and Ito, who upset #2-seeded Such and Lindstrom, 8-6.
The singles championship will be played during the week, while the doubles title match will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Photos by Daryl Peterson