On the first day of the CCCAA State Championships, four of six singles and all three doubles teams advanced past the first day for the Cerritos College men's tennis team. Competing in and around the Ojai area, the Falcons will open the Round of 32 on Friday morning.
The biggest upset of the day for a Cerritos doubles team came when unseeded sophomores Tomas Bella (Colegio Mallinckrodt, Argentina/Cypress College) and Nico De La Pena (Downey HS) turned in a 6-3, 6-3 win over #9-seeded Athreya Rangavajhula of Santa Rosa Junior College to reach the Round of 32. They will now take on the #9-seeded Southern California pair of Derek Lin and Parker McBride of Irvine Valley College on Friday afternoon. Seeded #4, freshman Arthur Toledo (Goliath Academy, FL) and sophomore Bruno Duarte (Centro Educacional Rogêdo, Brazil) opened with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Marcel Cortin and Oshin Hakabian of Glendale College. They will take on unseeded Thiago Manzano and Rodrigo Onate of Fullerton College on Friday.
The team's other doubles pair of #6-seeded Lucas Legrand (Marie, France) and Jan Simon (Gymnasium Auf Der Karthause, Germany/Cypress College) posted a 6-3, 6-1 win in their first match against Ayrton Aviles and Maechel Hannah of Riverside City College and will square off against unseeded Conrad Dalton and Moses Jimenez of Bakersfield College in the Round of 32.
In singles play, #3-seeded Toledo shut out Onate, 6-0, 6-0 in his first match and will take on upset-minded Kyle Spiegelman of Ventura College, who defeated a ranked opponent in his first match. Duarte, who's seeded #4, earned a 6-2, 6-2 win aver Nicholas Popiec of Glendale College on Thursday and will take on Ardi Safi of Irvine Valley College Friday morning.
Two more Falcons are seeded in singles play and include Simon, a #15 seed, and #16-seeded Legrand, who both won their lone match of the day. Simon eliminated Langdon Miller of Cabrillo College, 6-0, 6-0 and will take on Souza in the Round of 32 after he upset #4-seeded Roger Wen of Chabot College. As for Legrand, his first match was a 6-2, 6-1 win over James Garcia of Reedley College and will square off against #3-seeded Stephen Guenard of American River College in the Round of 32 on Friday.
Bella (0-6, 0-6 vs. #2 Alex Kuperstein of College of the Desert) and De La Pena (2-6, 1-6 vs. Alejandro Zatarain of San Diego City) were both eliminated from singles play.
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