The Cerritos College men's tennis team remained in sole possession of first place in the South Coast Conference with their 8-1 win over host Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday. With the win, the Falcons are now 9-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. They will now host El Camino College at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.
The day started with Cerritos sweeping doubles play and only surrendered five games. They went on to sweep five of the six singles matches to hand the Mounties their first loss of the season.
The duo of freshmen Oleksandr Krasnov (School 106, Ukraine) and Nikita Katsnelson (Odessa Gymnasium No. 1, Ukraine) recorded a convincing 8-2 win, with Krasnov going on to post a 6-0, 6-0 win in the #1 singles match. The lone loss of the day was experienced by Katsnelson, who lost his first singles match of the year (2-6, 2-6).
Freshman Aleks Trifunovic (Katrinelunds Gymnasium, Sweden) joined freshman James Zhang (Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, China) to earn an 8-1 doubles win, while they each earned 6-1, 6-2 singles victories. Finally, sophomores Agustin Lombardi (E.S.D.S., Argentina) and Mark Antoniuk (W. 124 School, Russia) continued to play well in the #3 position and earned an 8-2 win. Lombardi (6-2, 6-2) picked up a singles win at #3 on the ladder, with freshman Eliot Dota (Paris, France) recording a 6-2, 6-3 singles victory.
SINGLES
Oleksandr Krasnov (CERR) def. Erik Martinez (MSAC), 6-0, 6-0
Ron Kang (MSAC) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CERR), 6-2, 6-2
Agustin Lombardi (CERR) def. Jeffrey Alidina (MSAC), 6-2, 6-2
Aleks Trifunovic (CERR) def. Kenny Sakata (MSAC), 6-2, 6-1
Eliot Dota (CERR) def. Ismael Rodriguez (MSAC), 6-2, 6-3
James Zhang (CERR) def. Kimlong Phan (MSAC), 6-1, 6-2
DOUBLES
Oleksandr Krasnov/Nikita Katsnelson (CERR) def. Erik Martinez/Jeffrey Alidina (MSAC), 8-2
Aleks Trifunovic/James Zhang (CERR) def. Ron Kang/Kenny Sakata (MSAC), 8-1
Agustin Lombardi/Mark Antoniuk (CERR) def. Ismael Rodriguez/Kimlong Phan (MSAC), 8-2