Playing in their third match in as many days, the Cerritos College men's tennis team suffered a close 5-4 loss to NCAA Division II Concordia University on Saturday morning. The Falcons (3-1), coming off an 8-1 win over NCAA Division III the day before, will take on their third straight four-year school in a row when they travel to face NAIA Westmont College on Thursday. It will also be the team's fourth road match in a row.

Cerritos trailed, 2-1 in the team score after doubles action with the top tandem of freshmen Kent Hunter (Home Schooled) and Victor Castro (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil) pulling out an 8-6 decision. The Falcons came up short in the second match when freshman Alex Prokopchuk (School 45, Ukraine) and sophomore Biel Roca Carreras (Iguolada, Spain) fell, 5-8 to Joseph Bray and former Falcon Nikita Katsnelson.

Needing to win four of the six singles matches to pull out the team victory, the Falcons were only able to pick up three wins. They picked up wins in the top half of the singles ladder, with Hunter (6-3, 6-2) and Castro, who defeated Katsnelson in a three-set battle, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, accounting for two of the wins. Prokopchuk also prevailed in the #3 spot with his 6-0, 6-3 decision. Cerritos had a chance in the #6 match when sophomore Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes of PMMG, Brazil) split the first two sets with Man Hon Ko, 1-6, 6-3. But the third set was not to be won, as Silvestre suffered a 1-6 loss.

SINGLES
Kent Hunter (CERR) def. Florian Mayer (CON), 6-3, 6-2
Victor Castro (CERR) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CON), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Alex Prokopchuk (CERR) def. Joseph Bray (CON), 6-0, 6-3
Daniel Reddmann (CON) def. Dario Rico-Altozano (CERR), 6-2, 6-2
Thomas Kyle (CON) def. Biel Roca Carreras (CERR), 6-4, 6-3
Man Hon Ko (CON) def. Marcos Paulo Silvestre (CERR), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1

DOUBLES
Kent Hunter/Victor Castro (CERR) def. Florian Mayer/Daniel Reddmann (CON), 8-6
Nikita Katsnelson/Joseph Bray (CON) def. Alex Prokopchuk/Biel Roca Carreras (CERR), 8-5
Man Hon Ko/Yubo Chen (CON) def. Dario Rico-Altozano/Kwangeun Lee (CERR), 8-3

Photos by Liz Aceves