Looking to snap a two-match losing streak, the Cerritos College men's tennis team was also attempting to beat one of the top NCAA Division III schools in the country on Monday. The Falcons split the six singles matches with Amherst (MA) College, but dropped two of the three doubles matches to suffer a 5-4 loss. Cerritos (8-8) will resume South Coast Conference play on Thursday when they travel to Mt. San Antonio College for a 2:00 p.m. match.

With the match tied heading into doubles play, the Falcons and Jeffs played three marathon matches, with the deciding one coming down to a tie-breaker. The tandem of freshmen Nathan Eshmade (Kings Baptist HS, Australia) and Mathew Espiritu (Long Beach Millikan HS) posted an 8-6 win, while freshman Julian Avila (Paramount HS) and Gianni Jeong (Cerritos HS) suffered an 8-5 loss. Avila and Jeong were leading, 4-1, but then lost seven of the next eight games.

In the #2 doubles match, sophomore Todd Jenkins (Cabrillo HS) and freshman Maurice Grijalva (Gardena HS) were in a battle with Birk Mitau and Kade Pettie with the match on the line. After fighting off several match points to extend to a tie-breaker, Jenkins and Grijalva ran out of gas and were defeated, 9-8 (7-4).

In singles play, Eshmade returned from an injury and had to fight back against Eli Mlaver in the #1 position after losing the first set, 2-6. He improved his record to 13-1 on the season by taking the next two sets, 6-4, 6-3, while Grijalva  and Jeong each had to rebound after losing their first sets. Grijalva dropped a 1-6 decision in the #4 position and then posted 7-5, 6-4 wins against Will Rives, while Jeong started slowly against Matt Lerner at #6 by losing 0-6 in the first set. Jeong then regrouped and posted 6-2, 6-4 wins. Jenkins also went three sets in singles play, but suffered a 4-6, 6-1, 5-7 loss to Daniel Keolasy.

SINGLES

Nathan Eshmade (CERR) def. Eli Mlaver (AMH), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
Phillip Qu (AMH) def. Mathew Espiritu (CERR), 6-1, 6-2
Daniel Koelasy (AMH) def. Todd Jenkins (CERR), 6-4, 1-6 ,7-5
Maurice Grijalva (CERR) def. Will Rives (AMH), 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
Karan Bains (AMH) def. Julian Avila (CERR), 6-1, 6-4
Gianni Jeong (CERR) def. Matt Lerner (AMH), 0-6, 6-2, 6-4

DOUBLES

Nathan Eshmade/Mathew Espiritu (CERR) def. Eli MLaver/Phillip Qu (AMH), 8-6
Birk Mutau/Kade Pettie (AMH), def. Todd Jenkins/Maurice Grijalva (CERR), 9-8 (7-4)
Will Rives/Matt Lerner (AMH) def. Julian Avila/Gianni Jeong (CERR), 8-5

Photo by Daryl Peterson