By the time the South Coast Conference Men's Tennis Tournament finally came to a close, Cerritos players found themselves in the singles and doubles finals. The tournament was pushed back several times due to rain, but on Sunday, a pair of Falcons played for the singles championship, while a pair of doubles teams are still to play for the title at a later date. Before anything else, Cerritos will host Ventura College at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Southern California Team Championships.

In singles play, freshman Oleksandr Krasnov (School 106, Ukraine) earned a pair of straight set wins to reach the finals. His 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win over Mt. San Antonio College's Ron Kang was the first meeting of the season against two of the more talented players in the conference. At the bottom of the bracket, freshman Nikita Katsnelson (Odessa Gymnasium No. 1, Ukraine) was paving a path to the championships, as well. He was extended in the semifinals against Falcon freshman Eliot Dota (Paris, France), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8. It was the first singles loss of the season for Dota.

Dota, who generally plays in the #5 or #6 single spot in the lineup, earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over freshman Aleks Trifunovic (Katrinelunds Gymnasium, Sweden) in the semifinals.

In the championship match, Krasnov dispatched Katsnelson, 7-5, 6-2 to win the fourth straight conference singles championship by a Cerritos play.

Krasnov and Katsnelson and teamed up in doubles play to reach the finals, where they will take on Trifunovic and freshman James Zhang (Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, China) at a later date. Trifunovic and Zhang earned a 9-7 win over Mt. SAC's Erik Martinez and Jeffrey Alidina, 9-7.

All six Falcon singles players and all three doubles teams have advanced to the CCCAA State Tournament in Ojai.

Photos by Daryl Peterson