On a day when SBCC’s singles players were shut out in four matches at the WSC Championships, a pair of doubles teams came through to earn berths to the Southern California Regional.
There were eight singles and eight doubles spots up for grabs on the second day of the WSC tourney on Saturday at Pershing Park. Ryan Sweeney-Elliot Markowitz, the No. 2 seed, blanked Anthony Aiello-Ryan Melshau of Hancock 6-0, 6-0 in the Round of 16. The Vaquero duo of Alex Zazove-Zack Scott also advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Javier Rios and Matt Booth of Bakersfield.
The SoCal Regional is set for Long Beach City College on April 30-May 2.
Singles players Sweeney, Markowitz, Zazove and Antonio Rodrigues all came up short in their matches. Markowitz fell to second-seeded Rony Yeghnazary of Glendale 6-3, 6-2 while Rodrigues was eliminated by No. 3 Hassan Abbas of Ventura 7-5, 6-2.
Zazove fell to No. 4 Alexandre Riggobello of Ventura 6-1, 6-2 and Sweeney, SBCC’s No. 1 player, lost to Joey Tresierras of Glendale 6-1, 7-5. Sweeney was battling a shoulder injury and actually served underhanded in his doubles victory.
“Our seeds were tough at the beginning,” noted coach Don Lowry. “Elliot lost to (Ryan) Stanbury (of Glendale) earlier in the year, which messed up the draw a little. He would have been seeded eighth and instead he was seeded 16th and had to play the No. 2 seed.
“They might take 10 singles players from our conference and Elliot is No. 1 on that list.”
Ventura had five winners in singles and Glendale produced the other three SoCal qualifiers. The Pirates will only be able to send three singles players, due to conference limits. In doubles, Ventura had four winners but will only be able to send three to the regional.
“The tournament was great, the S.B. Polo and Racquet Club (which co-hosted singles) was great and the whole thing was exciting,” said Lowry. “There were some flashy matches.”
Sweeney and Markowitz will compete in singles for the Vaqueros at the Ojai Community College division on April 23-26. The doubles entries are Sweeney-Markowitz and Zazove-Scott.
