Nikolay Ivanov rallied for a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Dane Thomson on Thursday, leading the SBCC men’s tennis squad to a 7-2 upset of San Diego Mesa in its home debut at Pershing Park. Mesa was ranked No. 7 in Southern California and Thomson was No. 9 in singles.
Alex Zazove, Cameron DeAragon and Zack Scott also posted singles wins for the Vaqueros (1-3), who swept the three doubles points.
“We’ve been waiting for this and the guys really lit up today,” said coach Don Lowry. “We’ve been trying to get our lineup together and we had to accept that we won’t have our No. 1 and 3 players from last year.
“This was a good win because Mesa will probably win their conference.”
SBCC opens WSC play on Tuesday at No. 9 Glendale. It will be the fourth top-10 team the Vaqueros have faced this season.
SBCC 7, San Diego Mesa 2. Singles–Nikolay Ivanov, SB, def. Dane Thomson 6-7, 6-3, 6-4; Alex Nichols, M, def. Regis Sastrez 6-2, 6-1; Alex Zazove, SB, def. Yousef Benhamida 6-2, 6-2; Cameron DeAragon, SB, def. Kezien Kashavarzi 6-0, 6-2; James Howard, M, def. Kyle Lewis 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Zack Scott, SB, def. Hung Truong 6-1, 6-3. Doubles–Ivanov-Sastrez, SB, def. Thomson-Nichols 8-6; Zazove-Scot, SB, def. Ben Meyer-Kyle McDaniel 8-1; DeAragon-Quinten Richelle, SB, def. Howard-Truong 8-2 . Record–SBCC 1-3.
