Cerritos College freshman tennis
player
Sonia Gutierrez (Norwalk
HS) spent the majority of
the season as the team's #2
singles player. She entered the
South Coast Conference
Tournament, which was held at
Long Beach City College this
past weekend, as the #6-seeded
player. On her way to winning
the singles championship, she
defeated five players, including
the #3 and #4 seeded players. In
the championship match,
Gutierrez registered a 6-2, 6-2
win over fourth-seeded Nicole
Harden of Mt. San Antonio
College. The top eight finishers
in both singles and doubles will
now advance to the Southern
California Regionals, which will
be held May 3-5 at Victor Valley
College.
Joining
Gutierrez in singles action will
be sophomore
Asha Badal (Mayfair
HS), who advanced to the
semi-finals, while freshman
Esther Lee (Cerritos
HS), the team's #1 singles
player and fifth-seed in the
tournament, reached the
quarterfinals. In doubles play,
Gutierrez and Badal advanced to
the championship match as the
seventh-seed before losing to
top-seeded Katherine Chavez and
Monique McShane of El Camino
College, 6-0, 6-1.
In singles
play, Gutierrez opened with an
8-1 win over Christina Zambrano
of Long Beach City College
before a 6-1, 6-1 defeat of
sophomore teammate
Jelaine DeGuzman (Downey
HS). In the quarterfinals,
she ousted Lilian Roble, the
third-seed from Long Beach City
College, before a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
win over LBCC's Natalie Schuster
propelled her into the finals.
Badal defeated Aja Tapscott of
LB City (8-1) and eighth-seeded
McShane (6-4 7-5) before she
earned a default win over
top-seeded Chavez to reach the
semi-finals.
As the
seventh-seed in doubles,
Gutierrez and Badal won their
first match easily before an 8-2
win over Schuster and Zambrano,
the tournament's #2-seed in the
quarterfinals. After a 6-1, 6-4
victory over third-seeded Nicole
Harden and Ramille Sampang of
Mt. San Antonio College to reach
the finals, they were defeated
and settled for second place.
DeGuzman and freshman
Jessica Zaldivar (Pioneer
HS) won their first two
matches before Chavez and
McShane eliminated then, 3-6,
3-6, while the other doubles
team of freshmen
Melody Elizarraraz
(John Glenn HS) and
Alyssa Rojas (Warren
HS) were defeated in their
first match.
In team play, the Falcons will travel to Ventura College on
Wednesday for a 2:00 p.m. match
in the first round of the
Southern California Regional
Playoffs. The Falcons, champions
of the South Coast Conference,
will face the Pirates, who won
the Western State Conference.
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