By Kristen Wood
By Kristen Wood
The RCC men’s and women’s tennis teams are reaching the end of their season. This doesn’t mean that they are slowing down, though.
The two teams will end the season with a couple of very important tournaments.
Both teams competed in the Orange Empire Conference Tournament April 10-16. The women competed in the doubles competition with two teams. One team was sophomore Lily Cornejo and freshman Amber Howser. The second team consisted of sophomore Lauren Huxen and freshman Carissa Lentz.
Both doubles teams played well and qualified to compete at the Regional Tournament. The tournament will be held April 28 at Cerritos College. The men unfortunately did not have the same luck as the women. None of the men qualified for Regionals. “We fought well but didn’t get the victories; they were close games,” men’s coach Tony Chatfield said.April 21-24 the two teams headed down to the prestigious Ojai Tournament. The Ojai Tournament consisted of teams from Northern and Southern California.
Competing in the singles competition for the women were Huxen and Lentz. These two also competed together in the doubles along with Cornejo and Howser.
Cornejo and Howser had no problem defeating Danielle Richardson and Amanda Simmons from Cabrillo College 6-2, 6-1 in doubles play. They continued to win their next two matches.
Cornejo and Howser made it to Round 16 of the tournament. This was an impressive feat putting them in the top 16 in the state.
Competing for the men were freshman Andy Meister and sophomore Toby McGuire in the singles competition. The men’s doubles teams were Meister and freshman Alex Talbi and McGuire and sophomore Rusty Bale.
Going into the tournament coach Chatfield felt confident for the men.
“We should do well; it’s good exposure to see what the rest of the state is doing,” Chatfield said.
McGuire started the day for Riverside. He came up short against Jason Broussard of Bakersfield College 6-2, 6-0. Meister was also upset in his singles match against Sergy Vagramian of Glendale College 6-3, 6-3. The men’s doubles teams found the going rough when they also suffered defeats.
Though the season is over for the men, they will have four freshmen returning next year for a second season: Sam Zanini, Gary Darrah, Meister and Talbi.
With time in the off season to improve, “we can expect big things from Meister and Talbi,” Chatfield said.
The women will have four freshmen returning next year with valuable experience: Megan Berryman, Brianna Avilas, Lentz and Howser.