With an opportunity to move into a tie for second place in the South Coast Conference, the Cerritos College women's tennis team was defeated by El Camino, 6-3 on Thursday. The Falcons (11-5, 6-4) would have moved to within a half game of the Warriors (10-4. 7-2) with the win, but now sit in fourth place behind Mt. San Antonio College, who has an unfinished match with ECC. Cerritos will now travel to Fresno City College for the North/South Tournament this weekend.

After winning two of the three doubles matches to start the day, the Falcons were in contention to pick up the team victory. It eventually came down to sophomores Samantha Judan (Bishop Montgomery HS) and Natali Perez (Lakewood HS). The two had extended their singles matches to a third set and a pair of wins would have earned the team the win.

Judan, playing at #1, split her first two sets with Rose Sgolsutyatorn, but couldn't find her way in the third set and was defeated, 6-0. As for Perez, she had just defeated Chihiro Yamada in the #5 position, but lost, 6-3 in the third set.

Picking up singles wins for Cerritos was sophomore Staci Gonzales (Vista del Lago HS) with a 6-2, 7-5 win. Gonzales also teamed with sophomore Jessica Alcayde (Cabrillo HS) for an 8-4 doubles victory. The other doubles win came from Perez and freshman Stef Flores (Golden Valley Charter HS) with an 8-1 victory.

SINGLES

Rose Sgolsutyatorn (ECC) def. Samantha Judan (CERR), 6-4, 3-6, 6-0
Shayla Fulton (ECC) def. Stef Flores (CERR), 6-1, 6-2
Sheila James (ECC) def. Nina Pacquing (CERR), 6-0, 6-3
Apurva Sharma (ECC) def. Rianne Ilagan (CERR), 6-2, 6-3
Chihiro Yamada (ECC) def. Natali Perez (CERR), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Staci Gonzales (CERR) def. Jessica Dela Torre (ECC), 6-2, 7-5

DOUBLES

Rose Sgolsutyatorn/Shayla Fulton (ECC) def. Samantha Judan/Rianne Ilagan (CERR), 8-1
Stef Flores/Natali Perez (CERR) def. Sheila James/Apurva Sharma (ECC), 8-1
Staci Gonzales/Jessica Alcayde (CERR) def. Chihiro Yamada/Uinia Falevai (ECC), 8-4