The Cerritos College women's
tennis team entered the
prestigious Ojai Tournament
boasting the South Coast
Conference singles champion
in freshman
Sonia Gutierrez
(Norwalk HS).
Before she could make any
kind of an impact, she was
forced to retire due to an
injury in her first round
match. Leading, 6-2, 3-0 at
the time, Gutierrez could
not go on any more and was
eliminated from the
tournament. Gutierrez will
have a chance to rest during
the week before she and the
rest of her teammates that
qualified, will enter the
Southern California Regional
Playoffs, which will be held
Thursday through Saturday at
Victor Valley College.
Along
with Gutierrez, who was on
the way to defeating Evelyn
Wallace of Orange Coast
College, sophomore
Jelaine DeGuzman
(Downey HS) was
also eliminated in the Round
of 64 at Ojai, as she
dropped a 3-6, 1-6 decision
to Ashley Ottman of Santa
Barbara City College. Those
were the only two Falcon
entries in singles play.
In
doubles action, Gutierrez
and sophomore
Asha Badal (Mayfair
HS) were defeated in
straight sets in their first
match against Kaitlyn LeRoy
and Meghan Scott of Fresno
City College. The bright
spot in the doubles action
was the success of DeGuzman
and freshman
Jessica Zaldivar
(Pioneer HS). In
their first match against
Jourdan Monster and Masami
Hashimoto of Santa Monica
College, they posted a 6-2,
6-4 win and then recorded a
6-1, 6-1 win in their Round
of 32 match against
Viriadiana Martino and Lani
Morris of Southwestern
College. In the Round of 16,
they were defeated by San
Diego City College's Diana
Merrick and Katy Netheny,
0-6, 2-6.
Along
with Gutierrez, Badal and
freshman
Esther Lee (Cerritos
HS) have advanced to
the regional playoffs, as
have the doubles teams of
Gutierrez-Badal and DeGuzman-Zaldivar.
Prior to going to the Ojai Tournament, the Falcons faced
Ventura College in the
Southern California Team
Playoffs, and dropped a
close 5-4 decision. The loss
ends their season mark at
10-6.
Cerritos split the six singles matches, but dropped two of
the three doubles matches,
which resulted in their
loss. DeGuzman (6-4, 6-4)
won in the #3 position,
while sophomore Mary Jane
Bernardo (Kennedy KS) played
at #4 and registered a 6-1,
6-2 win. Also winning in
singles was Zaldivar, who
came away with a 6-4, 6-1
win in the #6 spot. As for
doubles play, the duo of
Zaldivar and freshman Alyssa
Rojas (Warren HS) played to
a 7-5, 6-0 win. One of the
key losses came in the #2
singles match, as Gutierrez
lost a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
decision.
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