By Garren Roath / Asst. Sports Editor

Focus on winning (Jasmeet Singh / Photo Editor )
By Garren Roath / Asst. Sports Editor
Riverside City College men’s tennis played host to Saddleback on Feb. 24.
This was the first conference game for the Tigers. RCC started out fast winning four of its first six matches. The wins were by Jairus Queilhe, Theo Arruda, Spencer Melendez, and Ulises Banos.
Queilhe, Arruda, and Banos took their matches in two sets, while the determination of Melendez got him a win in three sets.
Strong efforts were made by Jharen Gines and Guilherme De Souza, although they were unable to pull of the victory.
By the half-way point the coach of the Tigers, Jim Elton, said that they were playing great and just needed one doubles win to take the match.
As for the doubles, the Tigers quickly finished Saddleback two out of three games.
The pairing of Gines and Queilhe was too much for the Gauchos as they took their match 8-2.
Banos and Melendez took their match 8-6. Arruda and De Souza fell short 6-8, in an exciting and well matched game.
An overall great performance by the Tigers was displayed as they won 6-3.
“Each player holds key components to the success of his team and they showed it today,” Elton said.
The match scheduled for March 1 was canceled due to poor weather, and was rescheduled for March 4.
A warm, sunny day made it a great day to play tennis.
The Tigers were hosting Orange Coast College. This was their second league game of the year following the win over Saddleback.
Like their previous match up, the Tigers got out to a fast start winning four of their six singles matches.
Gines, Arruda, and Banos easily won their matches. Queilhe started off slow losing the first set 4-6, but then rallied back to take the victory winning the next two sets 6-4.
Melendez and De Souza had some hard fought games but could not pull off the victory.
The doubles matches were the key to finishing off Orange Coast.
The Tigers had just enough to pull away with the win taking only one of the three matches.
Banos and Melendez took their match easy winning 8-4.
The pairings of Gines and Queilhe, and Arruda and Carvalho both lost their matches but had to be ultimately happy with the overall league win.
Undoubtedly this will fire them up for the next match up.
This makes their match record 5-2, and their league record 2-1.