Kiyomi Kikuchi
The March 4 tennnis match against Ventura College ended in a loss for Pierce College, with Ventura musterign a final score of 9-0.
Only Kostya Omelyinchuk, a freshman tennis player, managed to tie in his second set against Ventura’s Hassan Abbas; but after comingup short in his third set, Pierce ended without a win, losing its six singles and three doubles in the first home game on March 4.
“It’s OK,” Omelyinchuk commented about his single. Omelyinchuk lost the first set 6-0, but in the second set he matched point-for-point and ended up winning, 7-5. A lot of Omelyinchuk’s smashes threatened Abbas.
“I felt tired and couldn’t jump,” said Omelyinchuk, commenting about his third game. “My problem was energy.”
In other singles, Vinnie Amor matched his opponent, Alexander Rigobello, point-for-point at the games beginning, but ended up losing 7-5.
“He played better than me today,” Amor said.
Despite the loss, Amor remained confident, looking foward to the next time he faces Rigobello. The bottom three single players lost the full games, but the top three single players won more than two games.
“They are still strong,” said Amor. Ventura College took the first place in the Western State Conference last year.
In the doubles match, a Pierce sophomore pair Mark Lewin and Amor lost, 8-4.
“I really thought we were going to win against (Ventura’s) number one and two when the match started,” said head coach Rajeev Datt.
Doubles matches usually end quickly, but this match was extremely back-and-forth.
The contenders were “steady and clever,” according to Datt.
“The Pierce team is a good team,” said Ventura head coach Nelson Emery, noting an improvement on the part of Pierce. “The coaches train them very well.”
Pierce assistant coach Allen Dunn analyzed the team by saying, “Two or three strong new players and two or three old players make a stronger team than last year.”
Pierce’s team has not only had “more training,” but also “a lot more match experience than last year,” according to Dunn. Datt’s recommendation?
“Hit more balls,” he said. “When their opportunities rise, they are ready to the end of the point.”
Pierce’s next home game will be on March 20 against Bakersfield College.
Kostya Omelyinchuk keeps the pace in his March 4 match. ()
