Former Cerritos College men's tennis All-American Derek Siddiqui has been announced as an assistant coach at Gonzaga University. Siddiqui, who reached the finals of the CCCAA State Championships in doubles with current Falcon assistant coach Jony Chai in 2011, transferred to San Diego State University, where he went on to serve as their #1 singles player in his senior season of 2013.

In his sophomore season with Cerritos, Siddiqui was the team's #1 singles player and posted a 23-3 record, which included reaching the Round of 16 at the state championships and was a quarterfinalist at the Southern California Championships. He and Chai, who compiled a 23-3 record as a tandem, captured the Southern California title, and reached the state finals, where they were defeated in straight sets.

While at San Diego State, Siddiqui was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference selection in singles, while he earned all-conference honors his junior season. As a senior, he was ranked as high at #71 in the nation and finished the year with a 14-10 singles record, which included an 11-8 mark in the #1 position. He also went 14-6 in doubles play. 

This will be the first coaching assignment for Siddiqui, who prepped at Los Alamitos High. The Bulldogs are coming off a campaign where they went 9-14 on the season and dropped 11 of their final 12 matches and compete in the West Coast Conference.

Photo courtesy of San Diego State University SID Office