In their South Coast Conference match against host El Camino College on Thursday, the Cerritos College women's tennis team was missing two players, which played a role in their 5-4 upset loss. The conference rules state that when a player is missing from your lineup, you're not allowed to shuffle your doubles players around, but must fill the missing spots with bench players.
With freshman Taylor Heath (Cerritos HS) unavailable for the match, her spot in the #1 doubles position was filled by freshman Mona Nevalta (Norwalk HS), who had only played in four matches prior to Thursday. She paired with freshman Mariia Yatsenko (School 328, Ukraine) and the two came close to pulling out a win, but fell short in a tie-breaker, 9-8 (4). In the #3 doubles match, sophomore Merli Alcasid (Gahr HS) was teamed with sophomore Amanda Del Cid (Libra Academy HS) and they fell, 8-1. Freshman Katia Brambila (Bell HS) missed the match due to a family illness.
The top three singles players all won easily in straight sets to get the Falcons close to a win. But the bottom of the ladder all dropped their matches and the Warriors posted the win. Freshman Anastasia Khomyachenko (Sochi, Russia) earned a 6-1, 6-4 win at the top of the ladder and teamed with sophomore Stef Flores (Golden Valley Charter HS) in doubles for an 8-4 triumph. Flores also won her #3 singles match, 6-0, 6-1, with Yatsenko moving up to #2 and posted a 6-1, 6-0 win.
DOUBLES
SINGLES
Anastasia Khomyachenko (CERR) def. Shenae Shampine (ECC), 6-1, 6-4