For the second time in the last three seasons, the Cerritos College men's tennis team has advanced to the Southern California Team Playoff Championships. The Falcons (26-2), ranked #1 in the state and seeded #1 for the SoCal Playoffs, defeated #4-seeded College of the Desert, 5-0 on Tuesday. The team will now host #2-seeded Ventura on Saturday afternoon, with the winner advancing to the CCCAA Team State Championships. Cerritos has never won a team state championship. They will also be facing the Pirates (14-1) for the second time this season. Back on March 9, the Falcons handed Ventura their lone loss of the season, 7-2.

After recording three wins in doubles play, Cerritos continued on their way to the SoCal Championship match by sweeping four more singles matches. They only needed to win two of the singles matches, but several of them ended at the same time.

Freshman Kent Hunter (Home Schooled) remained undefeated on the season in both singles and doubles, as he recorded a 6-0, 6-0 shutout in the #1 position against Kyryll Kryvchun after teaming with freshman Victor Castro (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil) for an 8-4 doubles victory. Castro also won his singles match in straight sets, defeating Dimitrije Vukovic, 6-1, 6-2. The third Falcon singles player to post a win was sophomore Kwangeun Lee (Sunny Hills HS), who earned a 6-1, 6-0 win in the #6 position after teaming with freshman Dario Rico-Altozano (Colegio Cumbre, Spain) for an 8-0 doubles victory.

The third Cerritos doubles team, freshman Alex Prokopchuk (School 45, Ukraine) and sophomore Marcos Paulo Silvestre (Colégio Tiradentes of PMMG, Brazil), earned a convincing 8-1 win, while Prokopchuk polished off Brian Johnson in singles play, 6-1, 6-3.

DOUBLES
Kent Hunter/Victor Castro (CERR) def. Kyryll Kryvchun/Brian Johnson (COD), 8-4
Alex Prokopchuk/Marcos Paulo Silvestre (CERR) def. Joau Luiz Zillo Prado/Dimitrije Vukovic (COD), 8-1
Dario Rico-Altozano/Kwangeun Lee (CERR) def. Jakob Dvorken/Joshua Bailin (COD), 8-0

SINGLES
Kent Hunter (CERR) def. Kyryll Kryvchun (COD), 6-0, 6-0
Victor Castro (CERR) def. Dimitrije Vukovic (COD), 6-1, 6-2
Alex Prokopchuk (CERR) def. Brian Johnson (COD), 6-1, 6-3
Biel Roca Carreras (CERR) led Joau Luiz Zillo Prado (COD), 6-2, 4-1
Dario Rico-Altozano (CERR) led Jakob Dvorken (COD), 6-2, 5-3
Kwangeun Lee (CERR) def. Joshua Bailin (COD), 6-1, 6-0

Photos by Daryl Peterson