Four Pirates qualify for men's tennis regionals!
IRVINE -- A pair of singles and two pairs of doubles from the Orange Coast College men's tennis team have earned a trip to Ojai following their strong performances at last weekend's Orange Empire Conference Tournament, held at Irvine Valley College.
In singles, freshmen Tokunoshke Takahashi and Ryu Miyake each reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, which qualifies each for the upcoming Southern California Regionals, held at the Ojai Tournament on April 23-27.
Takahashi, seeded No. 4 in the OEC, reached the Round of 32 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Max Rumeau of Irvine Valley. From there, Takahashi hung on for a hard-fought, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Riverside's Yann Herve before falling in the quarterfinals to IVC's Steven Le, 6-2, 6-4.
For the ninth-seeded Miyake, his tourney started with a 6-2, 6-2 win over RCC's Patrick Stetco and it was followed up with a come-from-behind, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Irvine Valley's Thomas Gibson in the Round of 32 to advance and qualify for Ojai.
In doubles play, Takahashi and Miyake joined forces and also qualified for Ojai with straight-set wins in the Round of 32 and Round of 16.
Fellow teammates Tony Wright and Brian Dao earned a spot in Ojai, thanks to a pair of straight-set wins. In the Round of 32, the OCC duo topped RCC's Kade Wijngaarden/Alleneu Tieu, 6-3, 6-2, setting up a matchup with sixth-ranked Matthew Mulrooney/Mecir Ureta of Fullerton College.
In that match, Wright/Dao notched the lone upset over a top-eight seed by defeating Mulrooney/Mecir, 6-3, 7-6 (6) to reach the quarterfinals, where they lost to IVC's Steven Le and James Lafond, 6-4, 6-1.
