W. Tennis: Singles play leads Falcons to win

Mariia Yatsenko won in straight sets for the Falcons

Posted: Mar 05, 2015

With wins in four of the six singles matches, the Cerritos College women's tennis team went into doubles needing just one win to earn the team victory. The Falcons (10-3, 5-1) went ahead and won all three of the doubles matches with tight scores, as they defeated visiting College of the Desert in a South Coast Conference match on Thursday. The team hits the road on Friday when they travel to Ventura College for a 1:00 p.m. non-conference match.

All three of the doubles teams were down early against the Roadrunners, but each started making comebacks. Once the tandem of freshman Katia Brambila (Bell HS) and sophomore Merli Alcasid (Gahr HS) finished off their #3 doubles match with an 8-6 win, it seemed to relax the remaining players, as the Falcons clinched the team victory.

The top doubles team of freshmen Taylor Heath (Cerritos HS) and Mariia Yatsenko (School 328, Ukraine) trailed 4-1 at one point, but ran off six games in a row and eventually posted an 8-5 win. Sophomore Stef Flores (Golden Valley Charter HS) and freshman Anastasia Khomyachenko (Sochi, Russia) posted a 9-7 win to finished off the match.

It was a 7-5, 6-3 win by Flores in singles action that earned the team their fourth point heading into doubles action. Yatsenko won her #3 singles match, 6-1, 6-1, while freshman Katia Brambila (Bell HS) earned a 6-2, 6-2 win at the #5 position in the ladder. Khomyachenko (6-4, 6-2) also won in singles play.

SINGLES

Leticia Dos Santos (COD) def. Taylor Heath (CERR), 6-3, 6-2
Anastasia Khomyachenko (CERR) def. Laura Arruda (COD), 6-4, 6-2
Mariia Yatsenko (CERR) def. Barbara Haikal (COD), 6-1, 6-1
Stef Flores (CERR) def. Karina Braz (COD), 7-5, 6-3
Katia Brambila (CERR) def. Esra Elhendy (COD), 6-2, 6-2
Katie Gundlach (COD) def. Merli Alcasid (CERR), 7-6, 6-3

DOUBLES

Taylor Heath/Mariia Yatsenko (CERR) def. Leticia Dos Santos/Laura Arruda (COD), 8-5
Anastasia Khomyachenko/Stef Flores (CERR) def. Karina Braz/Barbara Haikal (COD), 9-7
Katia Brambila/Merli Alcasid (CERR) def. Katie Gundlach/Esra Elhendy (COD), 8-6

Photos by Daryl Peterson