Starting this season, the format for the men's tennis team playoffs started with pro-set doubles, followed by best-of-three singles matches. On Tuesday, Cerritos College - seeded #6 for the Southern California Regional Team Playoffs - dropped two of their three doubles matches and went on to lose, 5-1 to #4-seeded Riverside City College. The loss by the Falcons (11-11) eliminated them from the team playoffs, but the squad will regroup to compete in the South Coast Conference Tournament, which begins on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. on the Falcon Tennis Courts.

In the loss to the Tigers (18-2), Cerritos head coach Alvin Kim felt that winning two of the three doubles matches would be crucial for the team's chance at pulling out the win. They got one of them in the #3 position, as sophomore Todd Jenkins (Cabrillo HS) and freshman Maurice Grijalva (Gardena HS) teamed for an 8-2 win. But a big blow to the team's hopes of a victory came when freshmen Nathan Eshmade (Kings Baptist HS, Australia) and Mathew Espiritu (Long Beach Millikan HS) were defeated, 8-4 at the top of the ladder.

Riverside City went on to pick up three straight set singles wins to secure the match and advance in the playoffs. Once the fifth team point was secured, the rest of the singles competition was halted. Cerritos was leading in all three of the unfinished matches.

SINGLES

Nathan Eshmade (CERR) vs. Jordan Gobatie (RCC), 7-5, 0-1 (unfinished)
Danny Garcia (RCC) def. Mathew Espiritu (CERR), 6-2, 6-1
Todd Jenkins (CERR) vs. Gustavo Carvalho (RCC), 6-1, 3-2 (unfinished)
Ulises Banos (RCC) def. Julian Avila (CERR), 6-2, 6-3
Elliott Moreno (RCC) def. Gianni Jeong (CERR), 6-1, 6-1
Maurice Grijalva (CERR) vs. Colten Douglass (RCC), 7-5, 4-3 (unfinished)

DOUBLES

Jordan Gobatie/Danny Garcia (RCC) def. Nathan Eshmade/Mathew Espiritu (CERR), 8-4
Gustavo Carvahlo/Ulises Banos (RCC) def. Julian Avila/Gianni Jeong (CERR), 8-2
Todd Jenkins/Maurice Grijalva (CERR) def. Elliott Moreno/Colten Douglass (RCC), 8-2

Photo by Daryl Peterson