M. Tennis: Top singles and doubles remain

(L-R) Amadi Kagoma and Nathan Eshmade have advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles at the state championships

Posted: Apr 25, 2014

With the second day of the CCCAA State Championships under wraps, the Cerritos College men's tennis team still has their top-seeded singles player and doubles team in contention. The tournament, which is being held in Ojai, is down to the quarterfinals, which will take place on Saturday at the Ojai Athletic Club.

Sophomore Nathan Eshmade (Kings Baptist, Australia HS), seeded #1 from Southern California, has been mowing through his competition and added a pair of 6-1, 6-1 wins to reach the quarterfinals. He started the day by defeating Modesto College's Rick Peloso, the #16 seeded player from Nothern California. That was followed by a win over #10-seeded James Tenbroeck of San Diego Mesa, which was the second time Eshmade defeated him this season. On Saturday at 11:00 a.m., he will take on #12-seeded Alec Bessinger of Fresno City College with a shot at the semi-finals at stake. Eshmade advanced to the semi-finals in singles play as a freshman.

Freshman Amadi Kagoma (Malezi School, Kenya HS), the #9-seeded player from Southern California, had to default out of his Round of 16 match against Gustavo Castro of Grossmont College. But Kagoma was able to rebound and team with Eshmade for a pair of wins in doubles play to advance to the quarterfinals. They opened with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 victory over Ryu Miyake and Tokunosuke Takahshishi of Orange Coast and then ousted #8-seeded Bryce Purser and Zachary Woener or Modesto College, 6-1, 6-1. They will now take on the South's #5-seeded Simon Guillen and Guillermo Pueya of Irvine Valley College in the quarterfinals at noon at the Ojai Athletic Club.

The Falcons other two doubles teams were eliminated in the Round of 32, as sophomore Mark Herrera (Bosco Tech HS) and freshman Milos Zoric (Gimnazjia Inidjija, Serbia HS) suffered a 2-6, 2-6 loss to #4-seeded Gustavo Castro and Alan Lamas of Grossmont College. Freshman Sheldon Hseih (Long Beach Poly HS) and Nicholas Simonelli (Long Beach Wilson HS) were defeated, 3-6, 2-6 by #6-seeded Victor Dos Santos and Vitor Mendes of Ventura College.