The Cerritos College men's tennis team clinched the South Coast Conference championship last Thursday. But in their first match since clinching the title, the Falcons lacked enthusiasm, as they dropped a 6-3 non-conference decision to visiting Glendale College on Tuesday. The setback evened the team's record to 9-9, as the team will now host El Camino College at 2:00 p.m. in their final conference match. Cerritos will host a pair of non-conference matches the following week before hosting the conference tournament.
Aside from an injury-related win for freshman Nathan Eshmade (Kings Baptist HS, Australia) at the top of the singles ladder and a convincing win in the #3 spot by sophomore Todd Jenkins (Cabrillo HS), the Falcon didn't offer the Vaqueros a whole lot of resistance. Freshman Maurice Grijalva (Gardena HS) played a tough second set against Tran Son, but dropped a 2-6, 6-7 (6-8) score in the #4 spot.
Cerritos still had a chance to pull off the team win if they were able to sweep doubles play. The duo of Jenkins and Grijalva responded with an 8-4 win, but Eshmade and freshman Mathew Espiritu (Long Beach Millikan HS) dropped an 8-5 decision before the third team of freshman Gianni Jeong (Cerritos HS) and Julian Avila (Paramount HS) ended the day with an 8-6 loss.
SINGLES
Nathan Eshmade (CERR) def. Andy You (GLEN), 4-1 (retired)
Macalutas Gaspar (GLEN) def. Mathew Espiritu (CERR), 6-1, 6-1
Todd Jenkins (CERR) def. Dat Le (GLEN), 6-1, 6-1
Phillip Lam (GLEN) def. Julian Avila (CERR), 6-4, 6-0
Tran Son (GLEN) def. Maurice Grijalva (CERR), 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
Segovia Santiago (GLEN) def. Gianni Jeong (CERR), 6-4, 6-2
DOUBLES
Macalutas Gaspar/Dat Le (GLEN) def. Nathan Eshmade/Mathew Espiritu (CERR), 8-5
Todd Jekins/Maurice Grijalva (CERR) def. TRan Son/Phillip Lam (GLEN), 8-4
Segovia Santiago/Stephen Lomaaroj (GLEN) def. Julian Avila/Gianni Jeong (CERR), 8-6
Photo by Daryl Peterson
