The top-ranked Irvine Valley men's tennis team knew it was in for a battle with No. 2 Cerritos on Saturday at home.
It was that and even more. IVC came away with a 5-4 victory in a contest that took more than four hours to complete.
The Lasers, who are the two time defending state championsh, clinched the match with their fifth win early in singles competition, but there wasn't a whole lot that separated the two sides throughout the contest.
Irvine Valley stayed unbeaten on the year with a record of 4-0, while Cerritos (9-1) suffered its first loss.
The match was ultimately decided in doubles where two of the matches were very close.
Irvine Valley's team of freshman Wyatt DeMulling and Chris Politiek came away with a 8-4 win at the No. 2 spot.
And the Cerritos pair of Sasha Krasnov and Nikita Katsnelson earned a hard-fought 9-7 win over IVC's team of sophomore Lucas Lesoeur and Javier Callejo at the No. 1 position.
IVC's No. 3 team of freshmen Leszek Mirecki and Gavin Lynch ended up giving the Lasers a lead heading into singles after a dramatic comeback.
Mirecki and Lynch trailed Cerritos' duo of Bruno Duarte and Marcos Paulo Silvestre, 7-4. The IVC pair battled back to get within 7-6, but then faced triple match point in that game before fighting those points off.
Mirecki and Lynch forced the match into a tiebreaker where they won, 9-8.
In singles play, the two teams split the six matches, with Irvine Valley opening up a 4-1 lead after Callejo won, 6-4, 6-0, over Aleks Trifunovic at No. 3 singles and Politiek defeated James Zhang, 6-4, 6-2, on the No. 4 court.
Cerritos moved to within 4-2 after a win at No. 6 singles.
But Lesoeur clinched the overall win, giving IVC its fifth point, when he beat Katsnelson, 6-2, 6-3, on the second court.
The Falcons posted wins in the final two matches to make the score 5-4.
Irvine Valley will play again on Tuesday in another big match. The Lasers host No. 3 Cypress at 2 p.m. in an Orange Empire Conference contest.
Singles
1) Sasha Krasnov (CERR) def. Wyatt DeMulling (IVC), 1-6, 7-6, 13-11
2) Lucas Lesoeur (IVC) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CERR), 6-2, 6-3
3) Javier Callejo (IVC) def. Aleks Trifunovic (CERR), 6-4, 6-0
4) Chris Politiek (IVC) def. James Zhang (CERR), 6-4, 6-2
5) Carlos Mendez (CERR) def. Leszek Mirecki (IVC), 7-6, 7-6
6) Bruno Duarte (CERR) def. Luis Castillo (IVC), 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
1) Krasnov/Katsnelson (CERR) def. Lesoeur/Callejo (IVC), 9-7
2) DeMulling/Politiek (IVC) def. Trifunovic/Zhang (CERR), 8-4
3) Mirecki/Gavin Lynch (IVC) def. Duarte/Marcos Paulo Silvestre (CERR), 9-8
