Pirates outlast Mounties to advance to State Semifinals
COSTA MESA -- The depth of the Orange Coast College women's tennis team again proved to be the difference-maker as the No. 2-seeded Pirates topped No. 3-seeded Mt. San Antonio College, 5-3, in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Tuesday at the OCC Tennis Complex.
With the win OCC (17-1) will take on the top-seeded Bakersfield College Renegades (18-0) for a spot in the 3C2A Women's Tennis State Championship match, which will take place on Wednesday, April 24 at Ventura College.
For the Mounties (15-3), it was their first loss to a two-year program all season, with their other two blemishes coming against Hope International University and Occidental College.
The challenge for the Pirates was set right from the beginning as they fell behind 2-1 after doubles play as Mt. SAC picked up a pair of close wins (8-4, 8-6) in the first two matches, with OCC's Kayla Cheng and Breckyn Burg pulling out an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles to put Coast on the scoreboard.
Coast picked up three straight-set wins at Nos. 2, 5 and 6, illustrating that aforementioned Pirate depth, giving OCC three solid wins to put them up 4-3. Mebuki Kitakuni and Ava Bocek each won their matches, 6-1, 6-1, while at No. 6, Sydney Friesan cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win.
The deciding match of the afternoon came at No. 4 singles, where Kaylee Ho needed a second-set tiebreaker to sweep past Mt. SAC's Tabitha Ortiz, 6-4, 7-6. The lone unfinished match at No. 3 singles was Tori Varela, who was one game from victory (4-6, 6-0, 5-2) when the match was halted following OCC's fifth win of the afternoon.
A win on Friday would put OCC into the state championship match for the third straight season.
