Kiyomi Kikuchi
Only Kostya Omelyinchuk, a Pierce College freshman tennis player, matched a tie in his second set against Ventura College’s Hassan Abbas; but after losing the third set, Pierce ended up losing all matches, 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 point-for-point games, but ended up losing 7-5.Referring to Alexandre Rigobello, his Ventura competition, Amor said, “He played better than me today.”Despite the loss, Amor remained confident for 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, but they played actively. “I really thought we were going to win to (Ventura) number one and two when the match started,” said head coach Rajeev Datt. Doubles usually end a point quickly, but this doubles match had been extremely back-and-forth. They were steady and clever, according to Datt.”The Pierce team is a good team,” said Ventura head coach Nelson Emery. “Pierce team is improving. 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 team has not only had a lot 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 raise, they are ready to the end of the point.” Pierce’s next home game will be on March 20 against Bakersfield College.
