Bobcats get statement win against Pirates

The Saddleback men's tennis picked up its second win of the season with a 5-4 victory against Orange Coast College on Thursday at the Saddleback Tennis Complex.  The win avenged a loss at OCC three weeks earlier and put the Bobcats in a tie for third place in the Orange Empire Conference.

Saddleback picked up another win on Thursday and showed big signs of improvement in the process.  The Bobcats managed a win against a team that had defeated them soundly earlier in the season and had to show some depth on the roster in order to get it done.

Saddleback held a 2-1 lead after doubles play as the Bobcats won at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.  The team match would go all the way to No. 6 singles where Saddleback's Adrian Cole was playing Orange Coast's Elijah Morley.  The Bobcats came out on top after Cole won both sets in a tiebreaker.  The second set tiebreaker looked improbable after Cole fell behind 5-2 in the set.  The freshman from Dana Hills High School came storming back to send the set into a tiebreaker.  Cole completed the comeback with a 7-4 win in the second set tiebreaker. 

Saddleback is now 2-6 overall and 2-3 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats will play again next Thursday at Riverside City College.  Match time is set for 2:00 PM in Riverside. 

Doubles:
(1) Yuta Kawabata & Kai Rodriguez (OCC) def. Brett Batey & Max Svensson (SC) 8-5
(2) Oliver Svensson & Shota Tokutso (SC) def. Jake Hastings & Elijah Morley (OCC) 8-6
(3) Matthew Heys & Adrian Cole (SC) def. Malik Thiaw & Ryan Palaeologus (OCC) 9-7

Singles:
(1) Brett Batey (SC) def. Yuta Kawabata (OCC) 6-2, 6-3
(2) Oliver Svensson (SC) def. Kai Rodriguez (OCC) 6-2, 7-5
(3) Malik Thiaw (OCC) def. Max Svensson (SC) 6-1, 6-1
(4) Ryan Palaeologus (OCC) def. Matthew Heys (SC) 6-1, 6-1
(5) Jake Hastings (OCC) def. Shota Tokutsu (SC) 6-3, 6-4
(6) Adrian Cole (SC) def. Elijah Morley (OCC) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4)