Traveling to Cerritos for a difficult non-conference test the Ventura College men's tennis team dropped a 7-2 decision to the Falcons. With the No. 2 seed for So Cal playoffs on the line VC was unable to hand with Cerritos. Hironori Koyanagi was the lone Pirate to win at singles play with a straight sets win at No. 2 singles.
Ventura (13-2, 8-0) dropped two of the three contests in doubles play to fall behind two to one heading into singles play. The Pirates No. 2 doubles team of Guenter Newman and Michael Burr picked up the win by a score of 8-1 over the Falcons. Newman and Burr though dropped their matches in singles play.
VC earned just one win in singles play with Koyanagi the defending state singles champion picking up a 6-4, 6-3 win. Those were the lone two sets the Pirates won on the singles side as the Falcons claimed each of the other five contests in straight sets.
The loss was just the second on the season for the Pirates, but likely will place them as the No. 3 seed behind the Falcons who will likely be seeded at No. 2 entering the playoffs.
Ventura will play one final match on Wednesday Mar. 30 when they take on San Diego Mesa in San Diego at 2:00 pm. They will then gear up for the Western State Conference doubles and singles tournament slated for Friday Apr. 1 and Saturday Apr. 2.
Cerritos 7 Ventura 2
Singles:
1. Oleksandr Krasnov (CERR) def. Corey Karen (VC), 6-3, 6-2
2. Hironori Koyanagi (VC) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CERR), 6-4, 6-3
3. Agustin Lombardi (CERR) def. Guenter Newman (VC), 6-3, 6-0
4. Aleks Trifunovic (CERR) def. Diego Rodrigues (VC), 6-4, 6-2
5. James Zhang (CERR) def. Evan Gazic (VC), 6-3, 6-0
6.Eliot Dota (CERR) def. Michael Burr (VC), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles:
1. Oleksandr Krasnov/Nikita Katsnelson (CERR) def. Corey Karen/Hironori/Koyanagi (VC), 9-7
2. Guenter Newman/Michael Burr (VC) def. Aleks Trifunovic/James Zhang (CERR), 8-1
3. Agustin Lombardi/Mark Antoniuk (CERR) def. Leonardo Santos/Diego Rodrigues (VC), 8-2
Ventura 13-2 overall 8-0 conference