Looking to defend their CCCAA Team Dual State Championship, the Cerritos College men's tennis team saw that bid come to end after a 5-2 loss to visiting College of the Desert in the Southern California Championships on Saturday. The Falcons (17-3) were seeded #1, but could not overcome the depth of the Roadrunners (18-1), who were seeded #3. Next up for the team will be the CCCAA State Championship Tournament in both singles and doubles and will take place in Ojai and starting on Thursday.
Opening with doubles play, the Roadrunners took a 2-1 team lead, with the Falcon pair of sophomore Jan Simon (Gymnasium Auf Der Karthause, Germany/Cypress College) and freshman Lucas Legrand (Marie, France) earning the team's lone point with an 8-3 win in the #2 position.
Simon picked up the other team point with his 6-4, 6-1 singles win over Manfred Vogt in the #3 position. Legrand won his first set in the #4 spot, 6-4 and was tied at 3-3 in the second set when College of the Desert clinched the team win with their fifth point.
"I thought we played them really well," said head coach Quinn Caldaron. "It really hurt us to lose Stevan Quintantar (Cerritos HS) for the season. He was a beast at #5 and that would have moved Tomas down to #6, where I think he would have also dominated. Additionally, having Stevan would have made us stronger in doubles. But we fought hard and I'm proud of our guys."
SINGLES
Kalman Boyd (COD) def. Arthur Toledo (CERR), 6-1, 6-1
Alex Kuperstein (COD) def. Bruno Duarte (CERR), 6-2, 6-2
Jan Simon (CERR) def. Manfred Vogt (COD), 6-4, 6-1
Lucas Legrand (CERR) led Saar Rogovski (COD), 6-4, 3-3
Sebastian Gomez Romero (COD) led Tomas Bella (CERR), 6-4, 4-1
Syed Hosain (COD) def. Nico De La Pena (CERR), 6-1, 6-0
DOUBLES
Kalman Boyd/Alex Kuperstein (COD), def. Arthur Toledo/Bruno Duarte (CERR), 8-2
Jan Simon/Lucas Legrand (CERR) def. Manfred Vogt/Sebastian Gomez Romero (COD), 8-3
Saar Rogovski/Syed Hosain (COD) def. Tomas Bella/Nico De La Pena (CERR), 8-2
Photos by Daryl Peterson
