Continuing his rise through the Southern California Regional Tournament at the Oxnard Tennis Center, Cerritos College freshman men's tennis player Nathan Eshmade (Kings Baptist, Australia HS) has now advanced to the quarterfinals. Eshmade, who found himself down a set in a rare occurrence, rebounded in his Round of 16 match and will now play in the quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. He is the remaining Falcon player in the tournament.

Seeded #2 in his singles bracket, Eshmade had his hands full all day on Friday, as he played two singles and two doubles matches. His morning opened with a tough 6-3, 7-5 win over Ventura College's Hans Baumstark. That was followed by a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over #11-seeded Tracy Beblie of Palomar College, who was looking for his second upset win of the day after defeated #5-seeded Adam DeRomas of Fresno City College. Three weeks earlier, Eshmade defeated Beblie in straight sets in a team dual match.

The wins send Eshmade into the quarterfinals against #6-seeded Justin Seller of College of the Desert, who upset #4-seeded Andrew Amor of American River College in the Round of 16. The only loss of the season for Eshmade came in a team dual match against COD, but he didn't face Seller.

The day continued for the #7-seeded Eshmade and freshman doubles partner Mathew Espiritu (Long Beach Millikan HS), as they advanced past Foothill College's Rihards Feldmania and Nikolay Petrov, who had to default due to an injury. The day ended with the Falcon duo losing a marathon match against #1-seeded Sam Beltran and DeRomas, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 10-12 in the Round of 16. The team's other doubles team, sophomore Todd Jenkins (Cabrillo HS) and freshman Maurice Grijalva (Gardena HS) were ousted by #2-seeded Amor and Adam Duong, 4-6, 4-6.

Photo by Daryl Peterson