Playing arguably one of the best teams in Southern California on Tuesday afternoon, the Cerritos College men’s tennis team absorbed their first defeat of the season, as they dropped an 8-1 decision at home against Ventura College (5-0), currently ranked #1 in the state. The Falcons (6-1) will look to rebound on Thursday when they host Orange Coast College in a 2:00 p.m. non-conference match.

    Of the eight Pirate players that appeared in the match, six are from foreign countries, while the Falcons are a team comprised of all local players. Cerritos played the top two singles and top doubles matches very closely, but came up short on all accounts. The lone win for the Falcons was by freshmen Nik Bote (Mayfair HS) and Matt Jun (Cerritos HS) in the #2 doubles match, as they posted an 8-0 win. As for freshmen Doug Edwards (Western HS) and Jason Wall (Lakewood HS), they played to an 8-6 score in the top doubles match, while Edwards (6-3, 6-3) and Wall (6-4, 6-4) were defeated in singles. None of the other players won more than two games.

Singles

Hassan Abbas (VEN) def. Doug Edwards (CERR), 6-3, 6-3
Matthias Muster (VEN) def. Jason Wall (CERR), 6-4, 6-4
Alexandre Rigobello (VEN) def. Nik Bote (CERR), 6-0, 6-1
James Preston (VEN) def. Carlos Gomez (CERR), 6-0, 6-2
Diego Almeida (VEN) def. David Sim (CERR), 6-0, 6-1
Shane McNulty (VEN) def. Mike Fitzgerald (CERR), 6-2, 6-1

Doubles

Hassan Abbas/James Preston (VEN) def. Doug Edwards/Jason Wall (CERR), 8-6
Diego Almeida/Alexandre Rigobello (VEN) def. Nik Bote/Matt Jun (CERR), 8-0
Carlos Gomez/David Sim (CERR) def. Pedro Damiani/Mark Sauer (VEN), 8-1