Goto falls in OEC finals
The Saddleback men's tennis team had a solid performance at the Orange Empire Conference finals over the weekend, with six different athletes advancing to play in the state finals in Ojai later in the month. Singles player Riku Goto was on fire, making it all the way to the finals.
Goto was the No. 5 seed for the tournament and started with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Fullerton's Spencer Crelin. He then scored a big win over No. 7 Scott Paz (IVC), winning 9-8 when he bested Paz 7-1 in a tiebreaker. Goto received a bit of a break in the quarters when Irvine Valley's Octave Bellett pulled out of the tournament, sending Goto to the semifinals. He quickly cruised past Riverside's Antoine Voisin 8-3, advancing to the finals. Unfortunately, Goto also had to play three doubles matches and ran out of gas, retiring in the finals against Riverside's Sam Paque.
Goto will head to the state finals on April 20th as the No. 13 overall seed from Southern California. In addition, he joined Michael Park as the No. 7 seed in doubles play after the duo made it all the way to the semifinals. Joining them was the doubles team of Kian Saidi and Kris Harris, who will play at the state finals as the No. 24 seed. In addition, Connor Mengert and Vance La advanced to the state finals.
"I was really proud of the way the guys battled," head coach Bud Davis said. "It was a lot of tennis in a short period of time and they gave it everything they had."