M. Tennis: Trio of singles and doubles advance to quarterfinals

File Photo: Alex Prokopchuk advanced in both singles and doubles on the second day
File Photo: Alex Prokopchuk advanced in both singles and doubles on the second day

Continuing their unparalleled dominance, the Cerritos College men's tennis team has advanced all three of their doubles teams and three of their singles players to the quarterfinals of the CCCAA State Championships. The Falcons, who won the team dual state championship on Wednesday have three seeded singles players and doubles teams just three wins away from state championships. The third day of action will take place in and around Ojai on Saturday.

The team's top-seeded freshman, Kent Hunter (Home Schooled), breezed through a pair of matches on Friday, as he ousted unseeded Sasha Kovacevic of San Diego Mesa College, 6-0, 6-2 and then shut out #11-seed Guillaume Daurelle of Santa Barbara City College, 6-0, 6-0 in the Round of 16. He will now face unseeded Priyank Soni of Ventura College in the quarterfinals after Soni upset #4-seeded Michael Vizcarra of American River College. His doubles partner, #3-seeded freshman Victor Castro (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil) had the same type of day. After a 6-0, 6-2 win over #13-seeded Stephen Morely of Folsom Lake College, he upended #8-seeded Adrien Etiemble of Ventura College, 6-0, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Castro is set to take on #6-seeded Michael Bott of Irvine Valley College, who is their #1 singles player.

In doubles action, the top-seeded pair earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over #15-seeded Steven Blancas and Chandler Hisepin of Fresno City College. The finished their day with a 6-2, 6-0 win against #5-seeded Morely and Daniel Alves of Folsom Lake. In the quarterfinals, they will be taking on Palomar College's Will Molenkamp and Patrik Trhac, who are seeded #8.

The Falcons other seeded singles player who advance past the second day was freshman Alex Prokopchuk (School 45, Ukraine), as the #7-seed recorded a pair of wins. He opened with a 6-2, 6-0 win against unseeded Augustine Lestelle of Ventura and followed with a 6-4, 6-3 win over #14-seeded Lirone Arecassio of Grossmont College, who upset #4-seeded Roger Wen of Chabot College. Prokopchuk and sophomore doubles partner, Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes of PMMG, Brazil), held up to their #2 seed, as they posted a pair of straight set wins. They earned a 6-2, 6-0 decision against unseeded Ryan Fabre and Chris Torcaso of Saddleback College. Next was a 6-2, 6-1 win over #12-seeded Sami Akouz and Theirry Van Os of Riverside City College. Saturday's action will see them take on Joey Dijkstra and Matthew Lindsey of Orange Coast.

The final doubles pair to advance had a more dramatic day, as both of their matches went to a third set tie-breaker. Freshman Dario Rico-Altozano (Colegio Cumbre, Spain) and sophomore Kwangeun Lee (Sunny Hills HS), who are seeded #15, picked up a pair of upset wins over higher seeded pairings. They opened the day with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 win against #2-seeded Jay Pandit and Wen of Chabot, which was followed with a thrilling 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 victory against #5-seeded Thomas Pidoux and Kayne Trustfull of Riverside City College. They will take on #10-seeded Arecassio  and Thomas Bernardes of Grossmont in the quarterfinals.

Suffering losses in singles action on Friday included Biel Roca Carreras (Iguolada, Spain), who was defeated by #5-seeded Solal Cherqui of Ventura, 3-6, 1-6, Rico-Altozano was eliminated by #4-seeded Trustfull of Riverside City College, 2-6, 3-6.