On Tuesday, the Cerritos College men's tennis team recorded their fifth win of the season against an NCAA DIII school. The Falcons (15-1) pulled out a 5-4 decision over Denison (OH) University on Tuesday. The team will resume South Coast Conference play on Thursday with a 2:00 p.m. match against visiting Mt. San Antonio College.
The match could have gone either way, as several of the matches came down to the wire. In doubles action, the freshman tandem of Bruno Duarte (Centro Educacional Rogêdo, Brazil) and Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes, Brazil) came up short in a 9-8 decision, with the Falcons taking a 2-1 team score lead into singles play after winning the other matches.
At the top of the ladder, sophomore Sasha Krasnov (School 106, Ukraine) remained undefeated on the season with his 6-3, 6-2 win, coupled with an 8-3 doubles win with partner Nikita Katsnelson (Odessa Gymnasium No. 1, Ukraine). However, in his #2 singles match against James McDonald, Katsnelson won the first set, 6-3, but could not pull out the win. After dropping the second set, he and McDonald capped off the match with a 13-11 tie-breaker game, with McDonald winning.
Cerritos received a team point in the #4 singles match when Colin Bahin had to retire due to an injury against Duarte, who was leading, 6-1, 1-0 at the time. Sophomore James Zhang (Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, China) helped seal the victory with his 6-0, 6-2 singles win, while also teaming with sophomore Aleks Trifunovic (Katrinelunds Gymnasium, Sweden) for an 8-5 doubles win.
SINGLES
Sasha Krasnov (CERR) def. Kevin Brown (DU), 6-3, 6-2
Jamie McDonald (DU) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CERR), 3-6, 6-3, 13-11
Owen Smith (DU) def. Aleks Trifunovic (CERR), 6-4, 7-5
Bruno Duarte (CERR) def. Colin Bahin (DU), 6-1, 1-0 (retired)
James Zhang (CERR) def. Blake Burstein (DU), 6-0, 6-2
Constantinos Alevizoupolos (DU) def. Henry Ayesiga (CERR), 7-5, 6-4
DOUBLES
Sasha Krasnov/Nikita Katsnelson (CERR) def. Kevin Brow/Blake Burstein (DU), 8-3
Owen Smith/Jamie McDonald (DU) def. Bruno Duarte/Marcos Paulo Silvestre (CERR), 9-8
Aleks Trifunovic/James Zhang (CERR) def. Colin Bahin/Danish Siddique (DU), 8-5