After the morning round of the CCCAA Men's Tennis State Championships, all six of the Cerritos College singles players posted victories. However, in the Round of 16, all six were defeated, leaving only doubles still to compete. Three doubles pairs moved on to the second day, but of those, only the Falcons top team won both of their matches to advance to the quarterfinals.
The team's top doubles team, sophomores Sasha Krasnov (School 106, Ukraine) and Nikita Katsnelson (Odessa Gymnasium No. 1, Ukraine) who reached the state championship match last season, won both of their matches to advance to the quarterfinals. The #1-seeded duo posted a 6-2, 6-2 in over unseeded Austin Reynolds and Gabe de Jesus of Grossmont College before defeating #11-seeded Cruz Thayne and Bill Whitaker of Ventura College, 7-6 (6), 7-5. On Saturday, they will take on #16-seeded Gertjan De Wilder and Nicholas Turner of Cypress at 2:30 p.m. at the Ojai Athletic Club.
A semifinalist in singles last year, #1-seeded Krasnov eliminated Johnny Barcohana of Los Angeles Pierce College, 6-0, 6-3 before an upset loss ended his singles season in the Round of 16. Facing #11-seeded Chris Politiek of Irvine Valley College, Krasnov was defeated in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6. As for Katsnelson, who was seeded #4, he posted a 6-3, 6-0 win over #14-seeded Eric De Romas of American River College in his first match of the day. In the Round of 16, Katsnelson was eliminated by defending singles state champion, Javi Velasco of Irvine Valley College, 3-6, 4-6.
The second of three doubles teams that advanced to the second day, #6-seeded sophomores Aleks Trifunovic (Katrinelund Gymnasiet, Sweden) and James Zhang (Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, China) swept past unseeded Fabian Cardenas and Chan Ul of Bakersfield College, 6-0, 6-0. That pitted them against #1-seeded Cody Doung and Tam Duong of American River College, where they were defeated, 5-7, 3-6. Singles play came to and end of the duo in the Round of 16 when Trifunovic lost, 0-6, 0-6 to #2-seeded Max Blancaneaux of Cypress College after he opened with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over unseeded Riku Goto of Saddleback College. Zhang was defeated in by #6-seeded Vincent Reynaud of Cypress College, 4-6, 4-6.
Also in doubles play in the Round of 32, freshmen unseeded Kwang-Eun Lee (Sunny Hills HS) and Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes, Brazil) were defeated by #8-seeded Jeff Gellman and Goto, 3-6, 3-6. The Falcons other two singles players were also defeated, with unseeded freshman Bruno Duarte (Centro Educacional Rogêdo, Brazil) advancing to the Round of 16 after upsetting #10-seeded Chris Pope of Glendale College, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His run to the championships came to an end with a 1-6, 3-6 loss to #3-seeded Wyatt DeMulling of Irvine Valley College. Unseeded freshman Carlos Mendez (Instituto de Educación Secundaria Ies El Palo, Spain) extended #14-seeded Whitaker to a third set in the Round of 32 before falling, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6.