The men’s tennis team has finally come to the end of a long and trying season. Unfortunately for them, it leaves with a sour taste in their mouths.
The defending Western State Conference champions dismantled the Vaqueros 8-1 on Thursday and improved their own overall record to 13-1 in the process.
Despite the huge margin of defeat, GCC (14-6, 8-2) fought well in singles matches, not rolling over to their conference rivals, armed with a plethora of international talent.
Ryan Stansbury fell to Ventura’s Swiss international Matthias Muster in straight sets 0-6, 1-6.
Vaquero Joey Tresierras lost to Brazilian native Alexandre Rigobello 3-6, 4-6 but did not really believe that his Pirate opponent played that much better than himself.
“I was in there mentally. I kept the ball in; he just didn’t miss his shot.” Tresierras said.
Both Alex Matevosian and Marko Gortinski fell victim to the Arteaga brothers, who hail from Venezuela. Matevosian lost to Pedro Arteaga 4-6, 0-6 and Gortinski lost 3-6, 4-6 to Juan Arteaga.
Paul Nagapetyan gave Parisian opponent Romain Scipione all he could handle, forcing a third set tie-breaker in a 3-6, 6-1, 3-6 loss.
The one victory for the Vaqueros came from Rony Yeghnazary who defeated the conference’s top ranked singles players Hassan Abbas 6-1, 6-3.
“I stayed very consistent, very relaxed,” said Yeghnazary. “I just wanted to have a nice time out there.”
Vaqs coach MacKay watched his top player closely and noticed a difference in the way he moved his feet.
“He [Yeghnazary] was right at it..he didn’t overdo it.” Mackay said.
With the regular season in the rear view mirror, the next destination for the Vaqueros now shifts to post-season play and with an at-large bid at stake.
MacKay is going to have to sell his team to the Western State Conference board if the Vaqueros hope to receive the necessary three votes to qualify for post-season play.
“We don’t just deserve it, we earned it,” MacKay said, speaking about a chance for an at-large bid.
If the Vaqueros are voted into the playoffs, another vote will decide whether the Vaqueros face off against either Cerritos College or College of The Desert in Santa Barbara for the Western State Conference tournament on April 17 and 18.
The following week, the Vaqueros will travel to Ojai to play to play in the 109th Ojai tournament April 23-26.
