Even with a week off between matches, the Cerritos College men's tennis team was sharp enough to defeat NCAA DIII Swarthmore (PA) College, 8-1 on Thursday. The Falcons (12-1) are now on the road for matches on consecutive days, as they take on Ventura College on Friday and Santa Barbara City College on Saturday.
Cerritos took an early 3-0 team score lead after sweeping through doubles action. Even with their top doubles team taking the day off, the Falcons received three outstanding performances. At the top, freshmen Bruno Duarte (Centro Educacional Rogêdo, Brazil) and Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes, Brazil) earned an 8-4 win, while sophomore Aleks Trifunovic (Katrinelunds Gymnasium, Sweden) and James Zhang (Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, China) posted an 8-5 victory. The the third match, freshmen Carlos Mendez (Instituto de Educación Secundaria Ies El Palo, Spain) and Kwang-Eun Lee (Sunny Hills HS) came away with an 8-3 victory.
The team's top singles player, sophomore Sasha Krasnov (School 106, Ukraine), took the day off, but his doubles partner, sophomore Nikita Katsnelson (Odessa Gymnasium No. 1, Ukraine) was inserted into the top singles spot. He posted a convincing 6-2, 6-1 win, with Trifunovic playing at #2 was extended to a third set before outlasting Michael Song, 6-4, 5-7, 10-4.
At the bottom of the ladder, Cerritos dominated with Zhang (6-0, 6-2) and sophomore Henry Ayesiga (Malezi School, Kenya), who posted a 6-0, 6-0 win. Duarte had a tough first set, but pulled out a 7-5 win, before finishing off Yosuke Higashi, 6-3 in the second set.
SINGLES
Nikita Katsnelson (CERR) def. Kevin Xu (SC), 6-2, 6-1
Aleks Trifunovic (CERR) def. Michael Song (SC), 6-4, 5-7, 10-4
Bruno Duarte (CERR) def. Yosuke Higashi (SC), 7-5, 6-3
Evan Han (SC) def. Carlos Mendez (CERR), 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
James Zhang (CERR) def. William Teoh (SC), 6-0, 6-2
Henry Ayesiga (CERR) def. Max Gruber (SC), 6-0, 6-0
DOUBLES
Bruno Duarte/Marcos Paulo Silvestre (CERR) def. Michael Song/Evan Han (SC), 8-4
Aleks Trifunovic/James Zhang (CERR) def. Kevin Xu/Yosuke Higashi (SC), 8-5
Carlos Mendez/Kwang-Eun Lee (CERR) def. William Teoh/Max Gruber (SC), 8-3
Photos by Daryl Peterson
