The Cerritos College women's tennis team capped off the most memorable season in school history, as they defeated De Anza College, 5-1 to win the CCCAA State Dual Team Championship on Wednesday. The Falcons (25-1), seeded #1, won two of three doubles matches against the #4-seeded Dons (16-4) from Northern California and then finished them off by winning three singles matches and were leading in the other three when the match came to an end. The match was held at Pierpont Racquet Club in Ventura.

Back in 1983, Cerritos was named the State Tournament Champion which was based on points from individual points. But this is the college's first dual team title.

"This is a great accomplishment for the Cerritos program," said head coach Alvin Kim. "We worked hard all season and dealt with some adversity before the season even started, but I think our preparation throughout the season led to this win."

The momentum they built up in their doubles matches carried over into singles, with a pair of freshmen recording two more quick team points to get the team to within the brink of the championship. In the #3 singles match, freshman Tiffany Sanchez (Long Beach Wilson HS) polished off Izabella Haugen, 6-0, 6-0, while Valentina Polonyi (Altisa, Hungary) recorded a 6-1, 6-2 win at #5.

The two also teamed up for an 8-3 doubles win, as did sophomore Jovana Milosevic (High School of Business and Law, Serbia/Hillsborough, FL CC) and freshman Danielle Pastor (Bishop Montgomery HS). The two led, 5-0 and then traded service points to close out the match.

Even though she was on the losing end of a doubles match, sophomore Taylor Heath (Cerritos HS) closed out the championship with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Van Nguyen in the #1 singles match. Heath trailed early in the first set, but turned things around with several winners and won the final three games, which carried her over to the second set, where she went on for the straight set win over the #1-ranked singles player in Northern California.

"It feels amazing to be state champions," said Heath. "I've been waiting all season for this. We knew this was a special team from the beginning because we're all so close as friends. It makes for a really fun atmosphere. I started my singles off kind of slow with a bunch of errors, but I was able to keep my composure and come back. It's so crazy that we won our first state championship."

Kim mentioned that the season could have gone entirely different when one of their best returning players chose to transfer to another school out of state, while another player was forced to miss the season with an injury.

"We had several players who stepped right in and made an immediate impact for the team," said Kim. "Danielle Pastor, who at one time was thought to be a bench player, is undefeated in match singles play (24-0), with her only loss coming in the conference tournament. Everyone played hard in each match the this is the end result of their hard work. We had a lot of other girls really rise up and go through a lot of difficulties to get where we are"

"There's a saying in tennis that if you want to win a state championships, you coach the women's team," added Kim, who has also led the Falcon men's team to four straight South Coast Conference championships and titles in nine of his 12 seasons.

SINGLES

Taylor Heath (CERR) def. Van Nguyen (DAC) 6-4, 6-3
Anastasia Khomyachenko (CERR) vs Polina Gorshenina (DAC) DNF 6-4, 3-2
Tiffany Sanchez (CERR) def. Izabella Haugen (DAC) 6-0, 6-0
Valentina Polonyi (CERR) def. Meike Huizinga (DAC) 6-1, 6-2
Jovana Milosevic (CERR) vs Lina Nguyen (DAC) DNF 7-5, 4-5
Danielle Pastor (CERR) vs Sophie Farspour (DAC) DNF 6-4, 1-5

DOUBLES

Van Nguyen/Polina Gorshenina (DAC) def. Taylor Heath/Anastasia Khomyachenko (CERR) 8-3
Tiffany Sanchez/Valentina Polonyi (CERR) def. Izabella Haugen/Meike Huizinga (DAC) 8-3
Jovana Milosevic/Danielle Pastor (CERR) def. Lina Nguyen/Sophie Farspour (DAC) 8-3