Pirates roll past Tigers, Gauchos in a pair of OEC wins
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's tennis team continued its fine season with a pair of wins against a pair of tough Orange Empire Conference opponents last week, topping Riverside City College, 5-3, on Tuesday and Saddleback College, 5-4, on Thursday.
In Tuesday's home win against the Tigers, Coast (13-3, 6-2 in conference) won the match with five big singles, wins, including a hard-fought 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 win at No. 6 by Ho Kiu Tam. Straight-set wins were turned in by Tam Duong (6-1, 6-3), Elmer van Butselaar (6-4, 6-4), Kevin Springer (7-6, 6-4), and Sergio Andres Palacio (7-5, 6-2).
In doubles, Duong/Palacio picked up OCC's lone point with an 8-2 win.
On Thursday, Coast traveled to Saddleback and battled the Gauchos to a 3-3 tie in singles play, led by wins from Duong (6-3, 6-1), Springer (6-0, 6-0) and Palacio (6-1, 6-1).
In doubles, Saddleback grabbed a 4-3 match lead after winning at the No. 1 spot (6-8), but the Pirates' depth prevailed as Duong/Palacio (8-1) and Tam/Phillip Vu (9-7) pulled out victories over the Gauchos.
Coast will travel to Mt. San Antonio for a nonconference matchup on Tuesday before playing at Cypress on Thursday in another OEC matchup. Both matches begin at 2 p.m.
