By
Tony Lee
On
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The men's and women's tennis played in the Ojai Invitational over the weekend and played well against the competition.As stated in last week's Coast Report issue, this invitational No. 1 and No. 2 singles/doubles players from all across California. [Click here to read the article on men's and women's postseason]You can read about the men's results on the OCC athletics website - I had the same information to but stats can get oh-so-boring sometimes. [Click here to check out the stats and summary]I talked to head men's coach Chris Ketcham Monday and he stressed his focus for the SoCal Regionals on Thursday: the health of his players.Ketcham has told me this six weeks before when I covered the team's exhibition match against Glendale Community College of Arizona. Health and conditioning is one of the reasons why the men's tennis team has been successful this season.Minguez, last week's Pirate of the Week, practices with the football team Monday and Wednesday normally but Ketcham told him not to practice on Wednesday this week. Ketcham told me Minguez is a "warrior" and applauds his effort everyday.Good luck to all three doubles teams and Minguez and Fisher at the SoCal Regionals Thursday.[Photo courtesy of Orange Coast College]
By
Tony Lee
On
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The men's tennis team missed the playoffs by a narrow margin but is doing well as individuals.OCC is ranked No. 9 and only eight teams make it onto the postseason play as a team.When I talked to Chris Ketcham, head coach of the men's squad, he seemed disappointed the team didn't have the opportunity for the championship. He even hinted that if the men made it, the team would've had a good shot to do well in the playoffs.But that doesn't mean the season is over for Ketcham's crew. The Pirates can still win playing as an individual or as a doubles pair.Over the weekend, Coast's No. 1 and No. 2 singles players Laurent Minguez and Brad Fisher qualified for the next round.Minguez won his two matches 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-0. Fisher went 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-1.The most impressive feat is all three of the OCC doubles tandems qualified for the next round.Ketcham said because of the seeding, Coast's No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams only had to play one match each.The No. 1 doubles pair of Miguez and Felix Demiro came through with a 6-0, 6-3 win and the No. 2 doubles team of Fisher and Yannik Lepage won in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.Coast's No. 3 team of Brian Nguyen and Kevin Saenz had to play two teams and won both - including the No. 1 doubles team of Saddleback College.In the frst match, Nguyen/Saenz won easily 6-4, 6-0 and then pulled of the upset with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.Minguez is also this week's Pirate of the Week. [Click here to read about him]
Congratulations guys. It's great to see players rising up to new levels during the postseason.
By
Tony Lee
On
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday was a busy day for yours truly and OCC sports.I started off the day covering the Collins Cup for the men's and women's crew teams. Coast got the victory by one point over UC San Diego. [Click here to read a team/program feature about our crew program]
I then moved onto the baseball game between OCC and Fullerton College to cover the pregame ceremony of honoring the 1948-49 baseball team - the first team to win a state title for OCC - and found out the Pirates might have to finish the season without head coach John Altobelli.
The baseball team is ranked No. 1 in the state. It would be a huge blow not to have Altobelli in the dugout.I also met with head men's tennis coach Chris Ketcham (far right, second row) on the OCC track. He said only eight teams made the regional playoffs and OCC was ranked as a solid nine. He pleaded to the playoff seating board, so to speak, why his team should be in the playoffs but it didn't work out.
He seemed bummed by the result but he said his top two singles player, Laurent Minguez (next to Ketcham) and Brad Fisher (first row, second from the left), and all three of his doubles teams moved onto the quarterfinals.He seemed proud of his players and how making the postseason as individuals shows depth on his team.Finally, I chatted with track and field player Danielle Morton.
She said she didn't do that well in the long jump on Friday's Orange Empire Conference Prelims (she just said long - i'm assuming it means long jump) but finished second in the javelin. By finishing second, she moves onto the state track meet.Morton added Audrey Crouse, future Coast Report staff writer, won the women's pole vault. Congratulations to both. [Click here to read a Q & A session with Crouse][Tennis photo - courtesy of Orange Coast College][All others - photo by Tony Lee]
The men's and women's tennis played in the Ojai Invitational over the weekend and played well against the competition.
